Tachinid Fly (Genus Peleteria)

In general, most tachinid flies are relatively large and bristly.  They often mimic wasp or bees.













Adult tachinids feed on pollen and nectar.  Larvae are parasites, preying on other insects -- often caterpillars.  Most tachinids deposit their eggs directly on the body of their host, and it is not uncommon to see caterpillars with several tachinid eggs on them. Upon hatching the larva usually burrows into its host and feeds internally. When fully developed it leaves the host and pupates nearby.   Larvae of Genus Peleteria prey Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths).








There are 1,345 species in 303 genera of tachinid flies in North America.  They can be found practically anywhere and everywhere. Tachinids are often abundant on sunny hilltops looking for mates.









Information source:  BugGuide

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Tachinid Fly (Genus Peleteria)

Scaly Bee Fly

Scaly Bee Fly (Lepidophora lepidocera)

Another bee fly. This one nectaring on a black-eyed susan. I don't remember ever seeing one of these until a few days ago. Of course, until I started taking photos of them, I didn't pay attention to most bugs if they weren't trying to suck my blood or sting me.

While the adult scaly bee fly eats nectar, it's larvae is a parasite of solitary wasps. Typically, the female wasp excavates a small burrow in the soil, provisions it with insects she has stung, lays eggs and seals the burrow. The bee fly tries to get her egg into the burrow before it is sealed. When it hatches, the bee fly larvae will consume the developing wasp larvae.

Sources:
Cirrus Images
BugGuide

Scaly Bee Fly

Chalcid Wasp

Chalcid Wasp (Leucospis affinis)

These little wasps are parasitic. Their hosts are mainly solitary bees, less frequently solitary wasps, nesting in a similar way to bees. Their eggs are deposited externally on the host larva or nearby. The first instar larva does not take any food at first but searches the host cell for competitors; in all cases only one parasitoid larva survives and develops as an ectoparasitoid sucking the body fluids of the host larva.

This female was nectaring on the dill weed in our garden.

Sources:
BugGuide
Natural History Museum of the UK

Chalcid Wasp

Waved Light Fly

Waved Light Fly (Pyrgota undata)

It may look like a wasp, but it isn't. It's a fly -- a good fly. Its larvae are internal parasites of adult Scarab beetle (like June bugs). The female waved light fly lays a single egg in each beetle. The larva that hatches consumes the beetle from the inside out, killing it within two weeks.

See also:
BugGuide Post
BugGuide Info

Waved Light Fly