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Genus Trichopoda - Feather-legged Flies

 Feather-legged Fly - Trichopoda pennipes - male Trichopoda pennipes Any ideas? Found in Allentown - Trichopoda 3015016 Trichopoda  - Trichopoda Trichopoda pennipes? - Trichopoda Female Trichopoda lanipes? - Trichopoda lanipes - female Trichopoda pennipes? - Trichopoda Please identify this handsome fly. Is it a feather-legged fly? - Trichopoda pennipes
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon (Calyptratae)
Superfamily Oestroidea
Family Tachinidae (Parasitic Flies)
Subfamily Phasiinae
Tribe Gymnosomatini
Genus Trichopoda (Feather-legged Flies)
Other Common Names
Hairy-legged Fly
Explanation of Names
Trichopoda Berthold 1827
'hairy leg' ―refers to metatibial plumage
Numbers
6 spp. (one of doubtful status) in 2 subgenera in our area(1)
Size
5-13 mm
Identification
Sexes dimorphic (e.g. abdomen orange in males vs dark or dark-tipped in females). Halteres covered with yellow scales. Distinctive fringe on hind tibiae.
Range
New World, Palaearctic, Australasia(2); in our area, most of the US, with 2 eastern spp. reaching ON; one sp. restricted to CA(1)
Food
hosts: mostly true bugs (Heteroptera: Coreidae, Pentatomidae, Scutelleridae, Largidae)(1)
Life Cycle
Life history of T. pennipes and T. plumipes in Swan & Papp(3).
Mating may occur near nectar sources (P. Coin, pers. observation). Females hover over plants that attract their hosts (e.g., squash). Eggs are typically laid on underside of host. Only one larva per host will survive, though more than one egg may be laid on a given host. Newly hatched maggot bores into body of host and feeds on host's fluids for about two weeks. Eventually, it grows to almost the size of the host's body cavity. Maggot emerges at III instar, killing the host, and pupates in soil. Adult emerges in ~2 weeks. Second instar larva overwinters in the host's body.
Remarks
T. pennipes has been used to control of stink and squash bugs
Internet References