Tachinid attacking hornworm!

[Lindsaylew82]

At least I think it's a tachinid fly! I'm not sure if you can hear the sound or not. If so, sorry, kid was VERY excited!

[youtudotbe]https://youtu.be/j87_ODf3lLM[/youtudotbe]

[youtudotbe]https://youtu.be/F6NlP0-8H38[/youtudotbe]

[grrlgeek]

That was awesome! I felt like I was watching the end of a movie; you know the part, where the evil villain you've been loving to hate for the last two hours is vanquished by the hero in the most satisfying fashion. I nominate that for video of the week!

[Lindsaylew82]

OHMUHGAH! You NAILED that description!!! I was feeling exactly that!

I watched this going down for nearly half an hour. This was when the fly started getting really aggressive.

I went searching with the uv/black light again tonight. I saw him just sitting there all wimpy looking. He had vomited on himself, too.

I've been fighting them SO BAD this year. I've been really frustrated, it was nice to see this!

[Juliuskitty]

Lindsay, that was so great! Thank you for posting that.

[Lindsaylew82]

The second video is longer, btw.

[rainbowgardener]

too cool, that you captured that on video!

The tachnid fly is a different hornworm parasite. The one I have is the braconid wasp. I think even if you never saw the predator, you would know because it doesn't look like this one would make the white cocoons we recognize as braconid parasitization.

This fly looks like a really nice one to have in your garden, because it is a generalist: Parasites of caterpillars (corn earworm, imported cabbage worm, cabbage looper, cutworms, armyworms), stink bug, squash bug nymphs, beetle and fly larvae, some true bugs, and beetles. Adults are 1/3 to 1/2 inch long. White eggs are deposited on foliage or on the body of the host (in the picture below, the tachinid fly is approaching the larvae of an elm leaf beetle). Larvae are internal parasites, feeding within the body of the host, sucking its body fluids to the point the pest dies.

Note that even attacks the stinkbugs and squash bugs we hate!

It looks like the adult flies are attracted to the same kind of flowers as other beneficial insects, the ones that have nectar in tiny florets:


Anthemis tinctoria Golden marguerite

Fagopyrum esculentum Buckwheat

Melissa officinalis Lemon balm

Mentha pulegium Pennyroyal

Petroselinum crispum Parsley

Phacelia tanacetifolia Phacelia

Tanacetum vulgare Tansy

Thymus serpyllum coccineus Crimson thyme

https://www.farmerfred.com/plants_that_a ... enefi.html


so hopefully I have some of these flies around, even though I wasn't aware of it. I grow lots of lemon balm and parsley, some tansy, thyme, buckwheat, and other things in the same family as parsley.

[applestar]

Yeah amazing! I've never seen them actually attacking like that.

They give me a mixed feeling when I see those big ugly bristly big eyed flies though , since they do also parasitize Monarch caterpillars and have often disappointed us with their emergence -- it's a scene right out of the Alien series -- thrashing caterpillar or perfectly healthy looking 5th instar goes into J to make chrysalis but ends up limply hanging... or MAKES a chrysalis ... and never turns into a butterfly because 1-3 maggots crawls out on a trail of slimy string. Blecch.

...that said... I did see one staring at me from high up in the corn stalk the other day. So this member of the Garden Patrol is also on the job here.

[Lindsaylew82]

They really like marigolds, too!

[Lindsaylew82]

I checked on my poor hornworm...yeah right...and he's looking bad. He has lost most of his horn, and he has a growth on his butt.

[Wombat]

Loved it ! I have tiny wasps that do the same job here but to catch it video is amazing, well done! He looks like a goner to me lol....

[Lindsaylew82]

I went out again tonight, and he was just hanging there, limp. Totally deflated. Just an empty shell. This was so awesome!!!