Parent Bug parasite

[nutmeg]

I found this pupa (4-5mm in length) in a container where I had a Parent Bug, now deceased:



I'll see what (if anything) emerges, but any ideas what it might be?

Thanks.

[Dogghound]

Its the pupa of a tachinid fly, it is going to be one of the Phasio species like P.hemiptera which parasitise shieldbugs.

[nutmeg]

Thanks. I'll see if anything emerges.

[Matt Smith]

Originally Posted by nutmeg

I found this pupa (4-5mm in length) in a container where I had a Parent Bug, now deceased:



I'll see what (if anything) emerges, but any ideas what it might be?

Thanks.

Ohhhhh !!!!!!! Not something you see very often

It is certainly a Tachinid puparia. The resulting fly is most likely to be in the Phasiini, either Phasia or another closely related species.

If it emerges, please do save all the bits like the dead host and the empty puparia, and most importantly the fly, we actually have very few definate host records for most of our Tachinid species so something like this is very useful.

I'd say this is one of those times when it is sensible to keep the fly as a voucher specimen to fully confirm the ID, with all the associated bits on the same pin, it would be a very valuable physical record. If you need some advice on how to do this either get in touch or I can sort it out for you and lodge the specimen in my collection.

Matt

[nutmeg]

Matt, you're welcome to have all the bits - I'll be in touch when/if something happens.

[Matt Smith]

Originally Posted by nutmeg

Matt, you're welcome to have all the bits - I'll be in touch when/if something happens.

Thanks for that. Hopefully the fly will emerge this year. Best way to keep the puparia is in a small tube/container with some tissue paper at room temperature, if it is going to emerge this year it should do so fairly quickly.

[nutmeg]

The fly emerged overnight. I haven't had much success photographing it... combination of very poor light and a not very transparent tube!

Here are a couple of views, but not clear ones:

[Matt Smith]

Ohh - very nice. This looks like Subclytia rotundiventris, which is a pretty uncommon species here in the UK, we don't have that many records for this beastie. Parent Bug is a known host for this fly.

[tristanba]

v interesting record - one of my friends was lucky enough to witness this fly in action:

Subclytia rotundiventris laying eggs on Parent bugs, August - Laurence Counter | SmugMug

[Matt Smith]

Very nice photos indeed - not often we see a picture of a Tachinid "in action".