Swift Feather-legged Fly
Trichopoda pennipes
The female glues a conspicuous white egg onto a host bug; the hatching larva bores directly inside, consuming its host from within.
- Scientific name
- Trichopoda pennipes
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Arthropoda › Insecta › Diptera › Tachinidae › Trichopoda
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Meadows, agricultural fields, gardens, and forest edges.
- Diet
- Adults feed on flower nectar; larvae are parasitoids of true bugs like stink bugs and squash bugs.
- Range
- North America, Central America, Europe, South America
- Size
- 7 to 13 mm in length
- Lifespan
- 2 to 4 weeks (adult stage)
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Broad-spectrum chemical insecticides and loss of diverse wildflower nectar sources.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless. These flies do not bite or sting humans and are highly beneficial garden allies. You can safely observe them hovering near flowers or searching for host agricultural pests. No special action is needed if they land on you.
Trichopoda pennipes is a fly in the family Tachinidae. The larvae are parasitoids of several true bugs, particularly squash bugs and leaf-footed bugs in the family Coreidae and stinkbugs in the family Pentatomidae and it is used as a biological control agent for these agricultural pests. It is native to North and South America and has been introduced into southern Europe.
Photo: Judy Gallagher, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist
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