Other Common Names
"Hedgehog Fly"...see comment
here.
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
=Dejeania rutilioides
Explanation of Names
"Resembling Rutilia" (a tachinid genus).
Numbers
2 subspecies (nomenclatural details
here).
Identification
A large tachnid with a relatively wide and flattened abdomen. Posterior portion of abdominal tergites 3 and 4 each with a complete transverse row of bristles displaced anteriorly at midline (like a "bell-curve") enclosing a small patch of bristles between it and posterior margin of tergite.
Key Characters for Identification of subspecies (from Arnaud, 1951):
1 ) Fifth abdominal tergite blackish, abdomen with a median black vitta....rutilioides nigrescens Arnaud
1') Fifth tergite mainly yellowish, no continuous median black vitta.......rutilioides rutilioides (Jaennicke)
Range
w. NA (CO-BC) south to Central America
(1)Food
Adults take nectar, especially from late blooming Asteraceae. Also reported on flowers of the genera Rhus (Anacardiaceae) and Melilotus (Fabaceae).
Larval host: the arctiid moth
Hemihyalea edwardsii, at least in part of its range (Hsu & Powell 1992).
Print References
Hsu Y.-F. and J. A. Powell (1992), "Hemihyalea edwardsii (Packard) (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) is the host of Paradejeania rutilioides (Jaennicke) (Diptera: Tachinidae) in central coastal California". Pan-Pacific Entomol. 68(1): 64-65.
