Tachinids

Roth, J. P., King, E. G. and Thompson, A. C. (1978). Host location by the tachinid Lixophaga diatreae. Environmental Entomology 7 794-798. 

Thompson A. C., Roth J. P. and King E. G. (1983) Larviposition kairomone of the tachinid Lixophaga diatraeae. Environ. Entomol. 12, 1312-1314. 

Tachinids are similar to house flies, but they are highly adapted insect parasites. The adult flies are pollinators. The eggs are laid on the body of the pest. The caterpillars quickly bore into tbe body of the host animal. Some of the eggs are ingested in feeding. 

Tachinids parasitize winter moth caterpillars, codling moth caterpillars, noctuid moths, small ermine moths, beetle larvae. 

ENEMIES. Enemies include tits, tachinid flies and braconid wasps. Tits, in particular, can be very effective enemies in the spring. 

They may look like pesky houseflies, but don t use the swatter Tachinid flies lay eggs on many types of caterpillar pests, and the tachinid larvoe feed on and kill the caterpillars. 

How fO Attract Adult flies feed on the nectar of flowers of dill, parsley, sweet clover, and other herbs, so allow weeds to flower throughout the garden don t destroy caterpillars with white eggs stuck to their backs— these will develop into more tachinid flies. 

Horse chestnut. See Aesculus Horsetail spray, 475-76 Horticultural oils, 359,463,464,478-79 Hosta, 118-19 Host resistance, 414-15 Hot dusts, 476 House centipedes, 280 Houseflies, tachinid flies distinguished from, 261... 

Tachinid flics, 328-29,328 as beneficials, 4S0 houseflies distinguished from, 261 Tagetes, 223-24 ... 

Although parasitism of zea larvae on tomato is variable and often low in North Carolina, we have consistently observed lower levels of larval parasitism by an array of parasitoids on plant lines selected for elevated levels of 2-tridecanone-mediated resistance to M, sexta (Table VI) (64). To investigate the causes of reduced parasitism, we focused on two species of larval parasitoids Campoletis sonorensis (Cameron), an ichneumonid, and Archytas marmoratus (Townsend), a tachinid. 

The strategies used by insects in the host selection process, whether for food or for oviposition sites, may appear superficially to differ, but actually they have a great deal in common. While host selection for most parasitoids involves a single stage (i.e., the adult female) this is not always true. For example, the female tachinid Lixophaga diatraea, deposits eggs near host frass. The larvae must then locate and accept the host (Roth et al., 1978). 

Monteith, L. G. (1960) Influence of plants other than the food plants of their host on host-finding by tachinid parasites. Can. Ent., 92, 641-52. 

Nettles, W. C. and Burks, M. L. (1975) A substance from Heliothis virescens larvae stimulating larviposition by females of the tachinid, Archytas marmoratus. J. Insect Physiol., 21, 965-78. 

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