Tephritomyia Hendel (Diptera: Tephritidae) is a fruitfly genus currently with eight species, all of which develop in flowerheads of Echinops L. spp. (Asteraceae: Cardueae). Most species in the genus are restricted to the Afrotropical Region, but T. despoliata (Hering), T. lauta (Loew), and T. sericea Munro are found only in the Palearctic Region. Tephritomyia lauta was reared from Echinops viscosus DC. but no information on the life history of any other species has been available so far. The phylogeny and geographic origin of the genus have not been studied to date. In the present work, we revise Tephritomyia based on a thorough morphological and cladistc study of all the species, and provide keys and illustrations for all of them. We describe 14 new species, and provide the first descriptions and illustrations of immature stages for this genus. Host-plant records are given for 12 species, including new records for T. lauta. Tephritomyia xiphias Bezzi is assigned to nomina dubia. Our cladistic analysis supports the monophyly of Tephritomyia as defined here, and the limitations of a morphology-based cladistic analysis of this genus are discussed. We conclude that Tephritomyia originated in Africa, and hypothesize that it is most speciose in the Afrotropics as a result of weaker competition over host plants (Echinops spp.) than in other zoogeographic regions.