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Species Paradejeania rutilioides - Spiny Tachina Fly

Representative Images

Tachinidae fly - Paradejeania rutilioides Tachinidae species? - Paradejeania rutilioides Spiny Tachina Fly - Paradejeania rutilioides Diptera - Paradejeania rutilioides Paradejeania rutiliodes? - Paradejeania rutilioides Diptera - Paradejeania rutilioides Bronze Large Bee - Paradejeania rutilioides Bee Fly on Rabbitbush - Paradejeania rutilioides

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 Tachininae
Tribe Tachinini
Genus Paradejeania
Species rutilioides (Spiny Tachina Fly)

Other Common Names

"Hedgehog Fly"...see comment here.

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Dejeania rutilioides

Explanation of Names

Paradejeania rutilioides (Jaennicke 1867)
rutilioides 'resembling Rutilia' (a tachinid genus)

Numbers

2 subspecies (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 to subspecies (from Arnaud 1951):
Fifth abdominal tergite blackish, abdomen with a median black vitta....rutilioides nigrescens
Fifth tergite mainly yellowish, no continuous median black vitta....rutilioides rutilioides

Range

w. NA (CO-BC) 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: Hemihyalea edwardsii, at least in part of its range (Hsu & Powell 1992)

Print References

Hsu Y.-F., Powell J.A. (1992) Hemihyalea edwardsii (Packard) (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) is the host of Paradejeania rutilioides (Jaennicke) (Diptera: Tachinidae) in central coastal California. Pan-Pac. Entomol. 68: 64-65. (Full text)

Works Cited

1.Taxonomic and host catalogue of the Tachinidae of America North of Mexico
Contributed by Chen Young on 29 September, 2005 - 2:14pm
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Hartmut Wisch, Chuck Entz, Aaron Schusteff, Vox Sciurorum, kschnei, v belov
Last updated 24 September, 2024 - 4:49am

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