| Giant Tachinid Fly (Tachina grossa (Linnaeus, 1758)) |
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Scientific name: Tachina grossa (Linnaeus, 1758) Common name: Giant Tachinid Fly French name: Echinomyie grosse Order: Diptera Family: Tachinidae Wingspan : 15 to 19 mm. Biotope: Open and damp woodlands, damp meadows, heathlands. Geographic area: Western Europe. Observation period : Late June to early September. |
The Giant Tachinid Fly is the largest member of the Tachinidae family in France and maybe in western Europe. You can easily tell it apart with its body size, its black thorax and abdomen and its yellow head contrasting with the two large rounded eyes. The abdominal hairs are strong and raised at right angle. The hairs on the thorax are not raised. There are yellow hairs at the back of the head. It parasites butterflies' caterpillars, especially those of the Lasiocampidae family. You can often observe the Giant Tachinid Fly on flowers in summer. There is one brood per year (maybe two in the southern part of its range). |
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The Giant Tachinid Fly let me approach very close. I could have cut one leg, absolutely wanting to take a very close picture. |
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Front view. |
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I have asked my friend Julien to bend the stem of this umbelliferae flower to take a different picture. I like the star shape made by the stems but I did not noticed that you can see Julien's hand in the background. |
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The two dark eyes on a yellow face make the Giant Tachinid Fly rather photogenic. And furthermore it is not shy at all. |
André Bon August 2011