Beneficial Parasite - _TNY_4201
Tachinid flies parasitize on other insects. This one is a male Bothria frontosa and they - or the females at least - lay their eggs on butterfly caterpillars (in the family Nymphalidae, I believe). The eggs then hatch and the fly larvae feed on the poor caterpillar.
Now, the first thought is that this must be bad and the caterpillar is the good guy - but look at it from the viewpoint of the flower. I bet they would be pretty pleased (if flowers could be pleased) about something limiting the butterflies from devouring them. Without the tachinid flies, caterpillars would rapidly become more numerous and wipe out their host flowers - and ultimately result in the butterflies dying out from a lack of host plants.
There is a similar species, B. subalpina, but my Tachinid expert (Hi Anne-Marie!) tell me the wider spacing between the eyes and the longer third antennae segment clearly tells this one as B. frontosa.
Beneficial Parasite - _TNY_4201
Tachinid flies parasitize on other insects. This one is a male Bothria frontosa and they - or the females at least - lay their eggs on butterfly caterpillars (in the family Nymphalidae, I believe). The eggs then hatch and the fly larvae feed on the poor caterpillar.
Now, the first thought is that this must be bad and the caterpillar is the good guy - but look at it from the viewpoint of the flower. I bet they would be pretty pleased (if flowers could be pleased) about something limiting the butterflies from devouring them. Without the tachinid flies, caterpillars would rapidly become more numerous and wipe out their host flowers - and ultimately result in the butterflies dying out from a lack of host plants.
There is a similar species, B. subalpina, but my Tachinid expert (Hi Anne-Marie!) tell me the wider spacing between the eyes and the longer third antennae segment clearly tells this one as B. frontosa.