CreatureData

Medfly

Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann, 1824)

Status not recordedinsects

The medfly (Ceratitis capitata) is a species in the family Tephritidae, order Diptera.

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Quick facts about the medfly

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the medfly live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the medfly as introduced in 36 countries, and flagged as invasive in 11 of them.

  1. Boliviainvasive
  2. Canary Islandsinvasive
  3. Costa Ricainvasive
  4. Ecuadorinvasive
  5. Franceinvasive
  6. Guatemalainvasive
  7. Nicaraguainvasive
  8. Peruinvasive
  9. Seychellesinvasive
  10. Tunisiainvasive
  11. Venezuelainvasive
  12. Austria
  13. Belgium
  14. Botswana
  15. Brazil
  16. Bulgaria
  17. Burkina Faso
  18. Cape Verde
  19. Chile
  20. China
  21. Colombia
  22. Comoros
  23. Cyprus
  24. Egypt
Show 12 more countries
  1. Ethiopia
  2. Ireland
  3. Israel
  4. Jordan
  5. Paraguay
  6. Poland
  7. Russia
  8. São Tomé & Príncipe
  9. Saudi Arabia
  10. Slovenia
  11. Spain
  12. United States

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the medfly endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the medfly classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumArthropoda
  3. classInsecta
  4. orderDiptera
  5. familyTephritidae
  6. genusCeratitis
  7. SpeciesCeratitis capitata (Wiedemann, 1824)

Synonyms Ceratitis citripeda, Ceratitis citriperda, Ceratitis hispanica, Pardalaspis asparagi, Tephritis capitata, Trypeta capitata

Other names and names in other languages (26)
  • Common fruit flyEnglish
  • Mediterranean fruit flyEnglish
  • ذباب فواكه البحر الأبيض المتوسطArabic
  • vrtule velkohlaváCzech
  • MittelmeerfruchtfliegeGerman
  • Μεσογειακή μύγαGreek
  • Mosca del MediterráneoSpanish
  • appelsiinikärpänenFinnish
  • Mouche méditerranéenne des fruitsFrench
  • זבוב הפירות הים תיכוניHebrew
  • Sredozemna voćna muhaCroatian
  • narancslégyHungarian
  • Mosca mediterranea della fruttaItalian
  • チチュウカイミバエ(地中海実蝿)Japanese
  • appelsinflueNorwegian Bokmål
  • Middellandse-ZeevliegDutch
  • appelsinflugeNorwegian Nynorsk
  • owocanka południówkaPolish
  • Mosca-do-mediterrâneoPortuguese
  • Средиземноморская плодовая мухаRussian
  • vrtivka ovocnáSlovak
  • medelhavsfruktflugaSwedish
  • Akdeniz MeyvesineğiTurkish
  • Mittelmeer-FruchtfliegeGerman
  • Middellandse ZeeboorvliegDutch
  • Mosca-da-fruta-do-mediterrâneoPortuguese

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the medfly

Other species in the same genus Ceratitis.

CompareMedfly vs Marula fruit flyMedfly vs Scaevola fruit flyMedfly vs Ceratitis munroanaMedfly vs Ceratitis aliena

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Is the medfly an invasive species?

In some places. The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species flags the medfly as invasive in 11 countries, including Bolivia, Canary Islands, Costa Rica, Ecuador and France. It lists it as introduced in 36 in all.

What kind of animal is the medfly?

The medfly (Ceratitis capitata) belongs to the family Tephritidae in the order Diptera.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-13. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Medfly (Ceratitis capitata). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/medfly

MLA

“Medfly (Ceratitis capitata).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/medfly.

BibTeX
@misc{medfly_2026,
  title = {Medfly (Ceratitis capitata)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/medfly},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-13}
}