Weirdo / Bizarre !
This enormous fly will be my species No. 497 on iNaturalist.
I was kneeling in front of my flower bed, trying to get a clear capture of a mini Bee on one of the newly opened Alstroemeria blooms, when this weird insect landed on the Parsley flower head behind it.
Scientific name: Tachina grossa (Linnaeus, 1758)
Common name: Giant Tachinid Fly aka Yellow-faced Fly
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). /
J'étais en train d'essayer de prendre une photo nette d'une mini Abeille sur une fleur d'Alstroemère tout juste éclose, lorsque cette énorme mouche s'est posée sur une tête de fleurs de Persil juste derrière !
Tachina grossa, l'Echinomyie grosse ou Tachinaire corpulente est une espèce d'insectes diptères brachycères de la famille des Tachinidae. C'est la plus grosse mouche d'Europe. Sa larve parasite des chenilles de papillons. Wikipédia
Weirdo / Bizarre !
This enormous fly will be my species No. 497 on iNaturalist.
I was kneeling in front of my flower bed, trying to get a clear capture of a mini Bee on one of the newly opened Alstroemeria blooms, when this weird insect landed on the Parsley flower head behind it.
Scientific name: Tachina grossa (Linnaeus, 1758)
Common name: Giant Tachinid Fly aka Yellow-faced Fly
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). /
J'étais en train d'essayer de prendre une photo nette d'une mini Abeille sur une fleur d'Alstroemère tout juste éclose, lorsque cette énorme mouche s'est posée sur une tête de fleurs de Persil juste derrière !
Tachina grossa, l'Echinomyie grosse ou Tachinaire corpulente est une espèce d'insectes diptères brachycères de la famille des Tachinidae. C'est la plus grosse mouche d'Europe. Sa larve parasite des chenilles de papillons. Wikipédia