Posted by David Gibbs on 27-07-2010 12:17
#4
viktor j nilsson wrote:
Actually, it is a female filling up her "sand chamber", a hollow space in the abdomen where she stores fine sand particles. Then, when she is laying her eggs in the host's nest, each egg is covered and camouflaged using this sand.
As far as i know most Bombyliidae are ectoparasitoides of the pupae or prepupae of the host invertebrate with a few attacking egg pods so strictly speaking are predators. None are "cuckoos" ie brood parasites or cleptoparasitoides, they attack the insect itself rather than usurp its food store as cleptoparasitoides do.
The first part of viktors answer is correct but
Villa do not direct their eggs at host nests but broadcast their eggs in any likely habitat.
Villa most frequently attack Lepidoptera pupae. Even those species of beeflies which parasitise solitary bees are still prone to scatter their eggs at anything looking vaguely like a hole in the ground.
Edited by David Gibbs on 27-07-2010 12:18