Friend!
There are more that 1300 diverse species of parasitoid Tachinid flies in North America – most look like a bristly house fly.
Adults feed on nectar and pollen but it’s heads-up when they smell the volatile chemicals from pest-infested plants!
Egg laying is variable: they glue them on to the exterior of a caterpillar; inject them into the body of a caterpillar; or deposit them on a leaf beside the leaf chomping pest. The caterpillar will unwittingly eat the egg with the leaf. Once hatched, the larva consumes the host’s internal tissues.
Hosts can be cabbage loopers, tent caterpillars, corn borers, or Colorado potato beetle larvae. Lure the adult fly into your garden with alyssum, coriander, or Ammi Majus.
Image: Elaine Sedgman
Sources:
Walliser, J., Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden, Timber Press, 2014.
Mahr, S. Tachinid Flies. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Division of Extension.
https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/tachinid-flies/
Tachinid Fly Lays Egg on Caterpillar. 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY73stFQEaE
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