#parasitiod

[pelagodes]

cutest little cuckoo wasp

[drhoz]

#1363 - Fam. Acroceridae - Small-headed Fly

Probably an Ogcodes sp. Spotted by Liz Rowe, but she didn’t give me a location.

Small-headed or Hunchbacked Flies are distinctive-looking, with tiny heads and almost globular abdomens, and many species resemble bees for their own protection. Most of the 500-odd species are poorly known, from 10 specimens or less, because they’re most often found when a spider is brought in for study, and it turns out it was parasitised by Acrocerids. 

Small-headed flies lay thousands of tiny eggs - quite often on clotheslines for some reason - and the minute maggots hurry off in search of a host. The larvae resemble tiny inchworms, and can jump. If they find a spider they grab hold, crawl up the leg to its body, and force their way through the body wall, usually at at the thinner exoskeleton at a joint. Often, it lodges near a book lung, where it may remain for years until emerging again to pupate outside the host.

Adults Acrocerids are nectar feeders with a long proboscis (sometimes longer than the rest of the fly), but they hold the proboscis tucked back underneath the body when not in use.