Tachinid Fly - Cylindromyia

Eastern Washington

Tachinid flies act as a natural check to many plant-feeding insects, which could otherwise do great damage agricultural crops. Larvae of these Cylindromyia flies are lethal parasites of Heteroptera or shield-backed bugs, which damage orchard fruit such as apples and apricots. Adult Cylindromyia flies live on nectar from summer flowers such as buckwheat and rabbitbrush; thus, these plants support egg-laying by these beneficial insects. Cylindromyia flies mimic wasps in form and color, which likely helps them survive as adults.

Other tachinid flies seek out cutworms, loopers, cabbageworms, armyworms, among an extensive menu of plant-attacking beetles and bugs. The economic benefit provided to agriculture by tachinid flies is tough to estimate but certainly enormous.

» See other Tachinid Flies from Eastern Washington

Tachinid Fly - genus Cylindromyia

© Copyright 2004-2023 All rights reserved
A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.