Posted by Tony T on 03-04-2008 03:34
#1
13 August 2005, New Brunswick, Canada.
It seems that whenever I find a caterpillar of a Giant Silk Moth (Fam: Saturniidae; in this case
Hyalophora cecropia) it has been 'attacked' by a Tachinid.
Even when the fly eggs have hatched, leaving very little or no evidence, most of these caterpillars have been parasitized by tachinids.
The most primitive mode of oviposition is to attach an undeveloped egg to an exposed host, as here. This type of oviposition is seen in only a few genera in the Phasiinae, Goniinae, Blondeliini, and Eryciini.
This is a caterpillar, one of many, that I reared from an egg but placed on a tree when I left for a short vacation. When I came back it had been 'hit' by tachinids.