Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Small Black Tachinid => Dufouria chalybeata
Posted by tristram on 28-05-2011 17:56
#1
Apparently ovipositing on a beetle larva which has a fecal pellet shield. Photographed on a thistle in a field near Reading, UK, 2011-05-25.
Edited by tristram on 28-05-2011 19:01
Posted by tristram on 28-05-2011 17:57
#2
From the front.
Posted by tristram on 28-05-2011 17:58
#3
From behind.
Posted by neprisikiski on 28-05-2011 18:10
#4
Sould be
Dufouria chalybeata, a parasitoid of
Cassida spp. (Chrysomelidae).
Edited by neprisikiski on 28-05-2011 18:14
Posted by ChrisR on 28-05-2011 18:32
#5
Wow - excellent photos - well done! :) Yes,
Dufouria chalybeata are fairly common at the moment in our area and are small, black and mainly shiny :)
Posted by tristram on 28-05-2011 18:59
#6
Ah, another
Dufouria. I had one of them a few days earlier. This one seemed very excited but, whenever I disturbed it, it always came back to the same spot. It was only later that I noticed the larva in the photos. Being on a thistle I presume the larva was probably that of the thistle tortoise beetle,
Cassida rubiginosa.