It contains around 170 described species, making it the sixth largest genus in the family Tephritidae.

[11] Tephritis occur throughout much of the world, but most are Palearctic.

[10] They can be found in a wide range of climate types, from hot semidesert to tundra.

[12] Most species inhabit the inflorescences of plants from several tribes in the family Asteraceae, and a few species cause galls to form.

[10][13] Tephritis can be distinguished from other fruit flies of the Tephritinae by the arrangement of setae on their bodies, among other characters.