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Hello,

Still a parasite of Timarcha larva, perhaps dipterous....or not ?
It seems dried...
..died.......?
10 mm
found in France, Chervettes (17)
24/02/2005

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I do not hink it can be anything else than a dipterous parasitoid. My books with pupae illustrations are all in the office so I will check when I get to work on Monday. Maybe a tachinid?

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Looks very like a tachinid puparium to me - but i can't quite find any image that matches it exactly. Both Peleteria & Phasia appear to have species that produce those long 'horns'. If anyone has Joachim Ziegler's paper and has better German than me they might be able to shed more light on the subject.

Chris R.

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Macquartia's are tachinids parasitising on Chrysomelidae. I will try to find out if there are images of there puparia around somewhere.

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Joachim Ziegler's excellent work in Studia Dipterologica - Supplement 3 (1998) figures Macquartia tenebricosa in a few places and it does appear that they too have projections like the one in the picture. Our database lists Macquartia dispar as patasitizing Timarcha spp. but it is possible the other Macquartia spp. do also.

Chris R.

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Hello,

Today 5:15 pm

To be continued......

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Problem with the wings...

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Oke, you did your best with the pictures, so I can give it a try.

It is a Tachinid (most likely),
and given the pictures and the now host,
my best guess it is a species of Macquartia, most probably M. dispar female.
If you can make a picture of the head in profile, I can be more sure.


Theo Zeegers

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Thanks, Theo, for you answer.

Head

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Thanks for the picture.

I am prtetty sure that this is a female Macquartia dispar.
It could also be M. viridana, which can hardly be told apart in the female sex. However, viridana is very rare (and dispar just not so common).

Thanks for the results


Theo Zeegers

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If you want Theo I can send the specimen to you.....

abdomen

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Bob


Congratulions !

It is a female Macquartia viridana after all !
Quite a rare species, so less so in southern France.

All Macquartia are paratitoids of Chrysomelidae.
M. viridana was not yet known (to my knowledge) from Timarcha.
M. dispar was.

Thanks


Theo

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Thank you very much, Theo, for the identification.

More renseignement about my specimen.
I found the pupe in grass, on the ground, slightly buried at the base of a telephone pole.
February 24, 2005 in Chervettes (17), Charente-Maritime, France.

Thanks...

Bob