Two Spiny-butts

There is no way around it. The most apt description of most tachinid flies is "spiny-butt." The abdomen of a good many members of the family Tachinidae is covered in long, obvious spines. Why? I haven't found an explanation, but that physical characteristic helps one to immediately recognize these flies as something other than a house fly, blow fly, flesh fly, or other similar dipteran. That said, two large tachinid flies are frequently confused with each other: Adejeania and Paradejeania.

Adejeania vexatrix

Here in western North America, these two animals are commonly observed as they take nectar from late summer and fall wildflowers. I, for one, can never remember which one is which. Ok, so one of them has beak-like mouthparts, is slightly smaller than the other, a bit brighter in color, and declines in abundance toward autumn....

Ah, it is Adejeania vexatrix that has these characters! The "beak" is somewhat unusual in the Tachinidae, and it is the elongated palps that form a sheath around the remainder of the mouthparts. This species ranges from British Columbia and Alberta south through California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Adult flies are on the wing in July and August, but in the more southerly reaches of their distribution can be found in September or even October.

It is known that this fly is a parasite of caterpillars, but the exact host species has yet to be documented. When a caterpillar yields an organism other than the adult moth or butterfly, it can be a real challenge to identify what kind of Lepidoptera it was *supposed* to metamorphose into.

Macromya crocata strongly resembles A. vexatrix, is found in similar forested habitats, but lacks the "beak" of its look-alike. The same information applies to Hystricia abrupta, another common species frequently mistaken for A. vexatrix.

Paradejeania rutilioides is even more robust, and spinier, than the species just discussed. It tends to be a more subdued orange in color, and the adult insect is found most often in August, September, and October (though stragglers can be out in November or even December). Here in Colorado I find this species commonly on flowers of rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus or Ericameria depending on the botanical authority you consult).

Paradejeania rutilioides

This species goes by the common name of "Spiny Tachinid Fly" or "Hedgehog Fly," the latter epithet coined by fly expert and author Stephen A. Marshall. It has a similar distribution as A. vexatrix, divided geographically into two subspecies, one northern and one southern. The fly is a known parasite of caterpillars of Edwards' Glassy-wing, Hemihyalea edwardsii, a tiger moth in the family Erebidae (subfamily Arctiidae).

Tachinid flies in general are remarkable creatures that are of enormous benefit to us through their parasitic lifestyle. We would surely be overrun with pest caterpillars, stink bugs, and other insects were it not for the ability of tachinids to control pest populations. Further, they are important flower visitors that complement pollinators like bees.

Sources: Arnaud, Paul H., Jr. 1978. A Host-Parasite Catalog of North American Tachinidae (Diptera). Washington, DC: United States Department of Agriculture Miscellaneous Publication No. 1319. 860 pp.
O'Hara, James E. 2012. "Review of Tachinid Fly Diversity in the Gila National Forest, New Mexico," The New Mexico Botanist Special Issue No. 3: 32-41.
O'Hara, James. E. 2013. "Tachinidae Resources," North American Dipterists Society.
Young, Chen, et al. 2005. "Species Paradejeania rutilioides - Spiny Tachinid Fly," Bugguide.net.

Pumpkin Bugs

This year I actually carved a jack-o’-lantern for the first time in decades. My landlady had purchased several pumpkins and then had a carving party on Saturday, October 24. Since I’m a football fan, and I’m in New England, I carved mine in the form of a Patriots helmet. It turned out pretty well, and I had fun doing it. Once we set the hollow gourds out on the porch, though, insects began flocking to the fermenting fruits. By Halloween day, a surprising variety of critters could be found outside and inside the pumpkins.

October 31 was an unseasonably balmy day here in South Deerfield, which probably had a lot to do with the buzzing insect population. Among the more interesting visitors was this little “jumping plant louse,” in the family Psyllidae. Psyllids are related to aphids, and a few can be pests in their own right. They are quite tiny, but under magnification can be quite colorful and lovely as well.

The psyllid’s kin, aphids, were also out and about, drifting on the wind and alighting wherever their feet found purchase. This is the time of year when aphids are winged, seeking the alternate host plants where they will overwinter. While some species pass the cold months as adult insects, the majority probably lie dormant in the egg stage.

Not surprisingly, flies made up the bulk of the visitors to our big orange globes. Fruit is fruit, and even if the inside of a jack-o’-lantern must seem like a domed stadium to “fruit flies,” they treated it like a bunch of overripe bananas, carrying on their courtship dances and lapping up the liquid residue. These are actually “pomace flies” or “vinegar flies” in the family Drosophilidae, and not true fruit flies (those are in the family Tephritidae and they attack fresh fruit, wreaking economic havoc on growers). The adult female pomace fly lays her eggs in the decaying fruit and the larvae that hatch feed mostly on the yeast that is carrying out the fermentation process. The maggots can really hold their liquor and quickly mature in the alcoholic mess.

Larger flies were to be found as well, including vivid metallic “green bottle” blow flies in the family Calliphoridae, and flies from the family Muscidae (house flies and kin) were chief among them. Oddly, even this parasitic fly of the family Tachinidae visited. Tachinids are, as larvae, mostly internal parasites of other insects. Some tachinids are very “host specific,” meaning they attack only a handful of host insects, often caterpillars. Other species are “generalists,” and just about any old caterpillar will do. It is essentially impossible to identify tachinids beyond the family level unless you are an expert specializing in that incredibly diverse family.

Maybe my favorite fly of the day was this pumpkin-orange Homoneura fly in the family Lauxaniidae. You can see more detailed images of these little beauties on the Bug Guide page for the genus.

I can’t think of a better way to share a pumpkin than with the insect world. While we humans admire the glowing spheres cut in familiar, humorous, or scary patterns, the insects remind us that there really is such a thing as reincarnation, if not in spirits, then in the molecule-by-molecule recycling of pumpkin flesh into fly flesh. I, for one, kind of like that idea.

Meet the Boettners

One of the great joys of entomology is getting to know other entomologists and their families. I was happily surprised to get a phone call from George “Jeff” Boettner recently, informing me that he and his wife were in Tucson to visit an in-law. Purely by chance, Jeff had met another friend of mine, Philip Kline, atop a butte on the edge of town. Philip mentioned that I lived in the city below, and suggested to Jeff that he look me up.

Jeff is a first-rate research entomologist at the University of Massachusetts where he studies tachinid flies and their hosts. His work has revealed startling evidence that exotic tachinids imported to combat invasive species like the gypsy moth have made a significant and terrible impact on both our native moths and our native species of tachinids. So effective are these introduced “generalist” tachinids that they outcompete the natives for hosts, driving them to extremely low population levels. Some endemic tachinid species may even be extinct, at least north of the Mason-Dixon line.

Cynthia, Jeff’s wife, is a fine biologist in her own right, and is the Coordinator of the Invasive Plant Control Initiative at the Silvio O. Conte National Fish & Wildlife Refuge. She also helped found the New England Invasive Plant Group (NIPGro for those who like acronyms). This year she and Jeff will celebrate their twenty-ninth (29th!) wedding anniversary. They complement each other wonderfully, and are great company over dinner and in the field, as I came to find out last Thursday evening and Friday. Thank you, Jeff and Cynthia, for a terrific time at the Blue Willow and in Madera Canyon.