Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Genus Lespesia

Monarch parasitoid - Lespesia Monarch parasitoid - Lespesia Lespesia samiae Calyptratae - Lespesia Lespesia? - Lespesia Lespesia? - Lespesia Lespesia? - Lespesia - male Lespesia? - Lespesia - male
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 Exoristinae
Tribe Eryciini
Genus Lespesia
Explanation of Names
Lespesia Robineau-Desvoidy 1863
Numbers
the largest genus of the tribe in NA, with >30 spp. in our area(1)
Size
typically 5-7 mm(1)
Range
Holarctic, Neotropical, Australasian(2)
Food
Hosts include a wide variety of moths and occasional members of other insect orders in the most common spp. of this genus(1)
Remarks
L. archippivora has been used as biological control of some moth pests such as armyworms, but this can backfire because it feeds on many species beside the target one, for instance monarch butterflies (Lindsey et al. 2009)
Internet References