The key contains characters to differentiate between adults of 12 fruit fly species of the subfamily Dacinae, that are considered of quarantine significance. The short list of 12 species includes the target fruit flies (Ceratitis capitata, C. rosa, C.quilicii, Bactrocera dorsalis, B. zonata and Zeugodacus cucurbitae) and a number of species closely related to these. It was composed after consultation with different potential end-users (NPPOs, the European Reference Laboratories for Insects and Mites, EPPO). In addition, for each species a condensed datasheet is provided with the basic information regarding morphology.

This key is composed within the framework of the EU H2020 project “FF-IPM” (In-silico boosted pest prevention off-season focus IPM against new and emerging fruit flies, H2020 grant agreement Nr 818184) and the STDF (The Standards and Trade Development Facility) project F³: ‘FRUIT FLY FREE’ (Establishment and maintenance of fruit production areas free and under low prevalence of fruit fly pests in Southern Africa).