[en] Pomiculture is a recent activity in southern Brazil. The first apple orchards were installed in the early 1970s. Recently, the area grown with apples exceeded 30,000 ha, concentrated in the regions of Fraiburgo and Sao Joaquim (state of Santa Catarina) and Vacaria and Bom Jesus (state of Rio Grande do Sul). Part of the 600,000 tons that are harvested every year is exported to the USA and European countries. Some exotic apple pests were unintentionally introduced, like the European red mite (Panonychuls ulmi Koch) and the Oriental fruit moth (Grapholita molesta Busck). Furthermore, some native species of insects became important pests, as in the South American apple leafroller (Bonagota cranaodes Meyrick) and the South American fruit fly (Anastrepha fraterculus Wiedemann). The South American fruit fly is the best-studied pest of apples in Brazil regarding its biology and ecology. In this paper, we synthesise the information available and discuss the feasibility of adopting new control methods. Most experiments were conducted in Vacaria where A. fraterculus populations reach levels as high as 150 flies/trap day in some years. Sixteen species of Anastrepha occur in the region of Vacaria and only A. fraterculus is considered economically important (Kovaleski et al., submitted). In addition to the typical morphology of A. fraterculus, the morphotype CSS (Selivon et al. 1996) was detected in McPhail traps and infested native fruits. The second most frequent species of Anastrepha is A. dissimilis Stone. It may be responsible for more than 20% of fruit flies in commercial apple orchards in some periods of the year (November-January) but does not attack apples (Kovaleski 1997). Adult population fluctuation has been studied for the last four years using plastic McPhail traps containing grape juice at 25% (v/v) as attractant. It is more efficient than corn protein hydrolysate, vinegar, and sugarcane molasses (Kovaleski et al. 1995) and is widely used by apple growers as the standard attractant for fruit fly monitoring. The highest population density is observed in mid-November and a second peak is observed in January-February in apple orchards and in forest areas surrounding these orchards (Kovaleski 1997). During this period, toxic bait sprays are applied on a weekly basis to prevent attack by ovipositing females. Females show an intense oviposition activity since fruits are 15 mm in diameter, with preference for bigger fruits when they are available (Sugayama et al. 1997). However, at this stage, fruits are unsuitable as hosts and more than 99% mortality occurs in the egg or first instar (Sugayama 1995). During harvest, larval development occurs satisfactorily even though it is slower than in primary hosts. A cohort of adults reared in apples shows positive values of intrinsic rate of increase, demonstrating that the population could be maintained using apples as hosts