''Phasia hemiptera'' is a

fly Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwing ...

belonging to the family

Tachinidae The Tachinidae are a large and variable family of true flies within the insect order Diptera, with more than 8,200 known species and many more to be discovered. Over 1,300 species have been described in North America alone. Insects in this family ...

Distribution

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Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

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Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

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Description

''Phasia hemiptera'' can reach a body length of . In these flies the thorax is usually dark brown, the middle of the very flattened abdomen is dark brown or black, while the sides are hairy orange-brown. The hind legs are generally reddish yellow. These flies are strongly

sexually dimorphic Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

. The males are more colourful and have broad curved patterned wings with markings of various colors. Sometimes wings show an iridescent blue-black band starting from the front edge, but they may also be or completely dark. Females have narrower and more transparent wings without markings, also their bodies are narrower.Øivind Gammelmo & Bjørn Sagvolden: ''The tachinid fly ''Phasia hemiptera'' in Norway.'' Norw. J. Entomol. 54, May 2007: S. 51–54 (online
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Biology

Adults are visible from April to September feeding on pollen of many flowering plants, especially on umbellifers

Apiaceae Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering plants ...

and

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

. There are two generations per year, as this species is

bivoltine Voltinism is a term used in biology to indicate the number of broods or generations of an organism in a year. The term is most often applied to insects, and is particularly in use in sericulture, where silkworm varieties vary in their voltinism. ...

. The first generation appears from mid-April to mid-June, the second from mid-July to the end of September. Like most tachinid flies, the female lays her eggs on other

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s, the larvae then develop inside the living host, devouring it and eventually killing it (case of endoparasitism). Its main hosts are the forest bug ''Pentatoma rufipes'' in the spring, and the green shield bug ''Palomena prasina'' in the autumn. The pupation occurs after about two weeks. The adults hatch after two and a half to four weeks, with the males appearing earlier than the females. Males live for a maximum of 31 days, females only 21.

Bibliography

*Erika Lutovinas et al.: "A Supplement to the Diptera Fauna of Lithuania" Acta Zoologica Lituanica, 2003, Vol. 13, Num. 4; ISSN 1648-6919 *H.-P. Tschorsnig & B. Hertnig: Die Raupenfliegen (Diptera: Tachinidae) Mitteleuropas: Bestimmungstabellen und Angaben zur Ökologie und Verbreitung der einzelnen Arten. Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Serie A (Biologie) 506, 1994: 170 pp *Michael Chinery, Insectes de France et d'Europe occidentale, Paris, Flammarion, 2012, 320 p. (), p. 212-213. *T.O. Markova New Host and Distribution Data of Tachnid Flies of Subfamils Phasiinae in Siberia and Russian Far East Far Eastern Entomologist Number 75: 1–8 ISSN 1026-051X July 1999

References

External links

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Tachinidae Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius Diptera of Europe Diptera of Asia Insects described in 1794 Articles containing video clips {{Tachinidae-stub