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Sth. for our Tachinidae specialists: I reared this specimen from a beetle cadavre that i found in grass tufts in the dunes near Haarlem (NL). As I kept the pupa indoors, it came out yesterday. I have no idea about the beetle yet.

Cheers, Louis

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female Meigenia sp.?

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Seems to be the best guess to me as well.
To be sure, I need to see the specimen.

And a more definite ID on the host would be great !



Theo Zeegers

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I'll try and find a specialist for the beetle; actually i have only the abdomen and the thorax but no head or legs... Did i mention it was an ADULT beetle in which the fly developed?
Theo, I will bring the fly to you. Cheers, Louis

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Tom Hakbijl, a specialist from the zoological museum in Amsterdam, identified the beetle remains as Galeruca tanaceti (L.), an oligophagous chrysomelid on Tanacetum vulgare and Achillea millefolium etc. Maybe this helps.

Louis

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Chrysomelidae are among the most important hosts in the Coleoptera for Tachinidae, together with Cerambycidae.
So it helps only a little.
The host is consistent with Meigenia.
Moreover, Meigenia is described as having a preference in ovipositoring on older larvae. Therefore, pupation from pupae or even adult Chrysomelidae is again consistent with Meigenia.

So, Meigenia is still the most likely bet.

Theo Zeegers

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Most probably a female of Picconia incurva (Zetterstedt, 1844), a parasitoid of Chrysomelidae. Galeruca tanaceti is already known as host of this species (see d'Aguilar, Bull. Soc. ent. Fr. 1959: 17, and Farinets and Matkovskyi 1984 in "Dipt. Fauna USSR and their significance in ecosystems".

Herting (Monografien angew. Ent. 16, 1960: 52) supposes that eggs are laid on the host larva, but it is known that puparia of the fly have been found in dead beetles (Aguilar 1959).

Meigenia females have a narrower frons than the specimen on the photo.

Peter

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Hi Peter,

There are experts and real experts, as very well demonstrated by you.

Picconia was my second guess, but I did not dare to suggest it in public, since it would be the third record from the Netherlands.
The second record was caught by me near Haarlem, the same locality as this specimen.

So Louis, I need to see it 'live' ! Under the binocular, even this expert can tell the difference. I will contact you.


Theo Zeegers

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Theo (Zeegers) was here this morning to see the fly, and confirmed Tschornig's identification : it's Picconia incurva, the third specimen known from the NL.

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a female Picconia incurva, to be complete.

Congratulations to Peter Tschorsnig for the best photo ID on this forum so far.

And thanks Louis for rearing the specimen and sharing the result


Theo Zeegers