Numbers
9 species in North America listed at
nearctica.comRange
holarctic; also represented south to the neotropics at least as far as Colombia, plus India and presumably other areas of the world
Habitat
larvae develop in the nests of bees and wasps
Food
larvae are kleptoparasitic, feeding on the provisions that bees and wasps bring to their larvae
Life Cycle
Metopia leucocephala has been found in cells of
Philanthus (
Beewolves). Females enter the host burrow for a short distance and there lay their larvae, which have to find their own way to the cells, sometimes several feet away.
[adapted from text by Fred Legner]
Remarks
Sarcophagids that are parasitic or predaceous on the brood of bees and wasps are mostly in genera Metopia, Brachicoma and Hilarella. Bougy (1935) described the attack of H. stictica Meig on Ammophila hirsuta Scop. in France. The host stores its nest with noctuid larvae, and the female fly appears while the prey is being transported to the nest. She does not attempt to larviposit on it at this time. It is only after the caterpillar has been placed in the cell and the Ammophila egg laid that she evades the host, enters the burrow and lays her own minute larva alongside the host egg. This egg is consumed within 24 hrs., and the larva then enters the body of the caterpillar to complete its development. Each individual may be regarded as a predator on the egg of Ammophila and an internal parasitoid of noctuid caterpillars.
[text by Fred Legner]
Internet References
live adult images of two holarctic species
M. argyrocephala and
M. campestris from the Netherlands (J. Lindsey, U. of Maastricht, Netherlands)
pinned adult image of undetermined
Metopia species, and info on
larval food (Insects of Cedar Creek, Minnesota)
biology and life cycle of parasitoid sarcophagids, including
Metopia species (Fred Legner, U. of California at Riverside)
presence in Colombia; list (Thomas Pape, U. of Kentucky)
presence in India; book contents (B.C. Nandi, The Fauna of India and the Adjacent Countries)
