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

Rat-tailed maggots & other eristaline larvae

Is it even an arthropod? Is it even an arthropod? Rat-tailed Maggots hover fly larva? Long-tailed Maggot Helophilus fasciatus larvae Rat tailed maggot Rat tailed maggot
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon ("Aschiza")
Family Syrphidae (Hover Flies)
Subfamily Eristalinae
No Taxon Rat-tailed maggots & other eristaline larvae
Identification
Larvae of Eristalinae typically have posterior spiracles fused together on a breathing tube, which ranges from short (Chrysogaster) to very long (Eristalis).