Exhyalanthrax afer
Encyclopedia
Exhyalanthrax afer, is a member of the fly
family
Bombyliidae
.
feed on pupa
e of tachinid
and ichneumonid
parasitoids of the pine processionary caterpillar, Thaumetopoea pityocampa
. The pupae of other Lepidoptera
and from cocoons of the pine
sawfly, Neodiprion sertifer. Adults are most often seen visiting flowers to feed on nectar.
Fly
True flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...
family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Bombyliidae
Bombyliidae
Bombyliidae is a large family of flies with hundreds of genera, although their life cycles are not well known. Adults generally feed on nectar and pollen, thus are pollinators of flowers. They superficially resemble bees, thus are commonly called bee flies, and this may offer the adults some...
.
Biology
LarvaLarva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
feed on pupa
Pupa
A pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. The pupal stage is found only in holometabolous insects, those that undergo a complete metamorphosis, going through four life stages; embryo, larva, pupa and imago...
e of tachinid
Tachinidae
Tachinidae is a large and rather variable family of true flies within the insect order Diptera, with more than 8,200 known species and many more to be discovered. There are over 1300 species in North America. Insects in this family are commonly called tachina flies or simply tachinids...
and ichneumonid
Ichneumonidae
Ichneumonidae is a family within the insect order Hymenoptera. Insects in this family are commonly called ichneumon wasps. Less exact terms are ichneumon flies , or scorpion wasps due to the extreme lengthening and curving of the abdomen...
parasitoids of the pine processionary caterpillar, Thaumetopoea pityocampa
Pine Processionary
The Pine Processionary is a moth of the family Thaumetopoeidae. It is sometimes placed in the genus Traumatocampa. It is an abundant species of pine woods in central and southern Europe....
. The pupae of other Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
and from cocoons of the pine
sawfly, Neodiprion sertifer. Adults are most often seen visiting flowers to feed on nectar.