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Feather-Legged Fly
Spotted in a garden. A parasitic species, being in the Tachinidae family. I haven't photographed the larvae, but there observations on iNaturalist, showing the species feeding on Heteropteran insects: (example1) (example2)
Source & more information: Stireman JO III, O'Hara JE, Wood, DM 2006, 'TACHINIDAE: Evolution, Behavior, and Ecology', Annual review of entomology, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 525-555.
08/09/23 - Diptera: Trichopoda pictipennis
QLD:BRB - Townsville
@secreteggent submitted: Saw these dudes last weekend and it looks like the second guy (some sort of true bug?) has some growths on him. Do you have any idea what they could be? (the insects and the growths)
They were seen in [removed] (please remove). Thank you!
I sure do! The criminal in the first photo is a Japanese beetle. The second is a leaf-footed bug in the genus Acanthocephala with tachinid fly eggs on it. Most likely the eggs are from a feather-legged fly in the genus Trichopoda! In your area, probably Trichopoda pennipes. Unfortunately, since the flies are parasitoids, the leaf-footed bug is likely doomed to be eaten by the larvae.
Every time there happens to be a feather legged fly (Trichopoda sp.) in the garden, I cannot help but think “There ain’t enough room for the two of us pardner”. They’re harmless, but between those legs and that swagger... they just look so funny XD
pets with giant fluffy hind legs are so powerful, thank you for sharing this invigorating cowboy idea with me.
speaking of which, for my money the best fluffy legs belong to oil digger bees, Centris spp.
source [1] [2] [3]
now if only there was a way to combine their woolly chaps with the fringed leather jacket forelegs of some male Megachile leafcutter bees, then you’d have the ultimate cowboy bee:
a cowbee, if you will
source [1] [2] [3]
oh and then it could have a shootout with Trichopoda on a dusty frontier town road and yes i would like to purchase this comic book
source [1]
Trichopoda Fly (female) - another parasitoid that helps your garden. These flies parasitize several species of true bugs like stink bugs and squash bugs.
Feather-legged Fly #thenatureofkansas #kansaswild #insect #naturalhistory #naturephotography #trichopoda #mimicry #parasitoid #pomonalake #osagecounty #kansas #nikon (at Pomona Lake, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
