February 2018 Stem-boring fly larvae overwintering in stems of Parthenocissus


My efforts to rear this species to adulthood failed, but observations suggested the larvae vacate the stems to pupate in the soil sometime in late May; by mid- to late June, I was unable to find larvae in stems anymore

Given that the species overwinters as a larva and exits the stem to pupate in the spring, I hypothesized that the adults would emerge in summer and lay eggs, giving rise to a late summer and fall generation of young larvae in the stems. Checking Parthenocissus stems in August 2018, it didn't take me long to find my first young larva (this series)

The longness and thinness of this animal is astonishing, don't you think?

Puparium and reared adult, 2022