17 January 2014

This fly is a farmer's friend: Protohystricia


Caterpillars of a number of large moth species in the genus Wiseana are commonly called 'porina'. They're important pests of New Zealand pasture, but farmers aren't without a few natural allies. This is one: a big tachinid fly in the genus Protohystricia. Its larvae parastise porina caterpillars, but to the best of my knowledge, no one knows how they affect porina populations. My guess — and I stress it's a guess — is that parasitism by these flies has no discernible impact. Still, if you live in New Zealand and see one of these — don't swat it!


[17 January 2014, Olympus OM-D EM-1, 60 mm f2.8 Macro , ISO 400, 1/500 at f5.6]

All content © 2014 Pete McGregor

10 comments:

Elephant's Child said...

How fascinating. And it is a beautiful thing, so it is nice to hear that it has a friend (or two).

pohanginapete said...

EC, I suspect most people react with disgust, thinking it's some kind of enormous blowfly. I'm glad you think it's beautiful :^)

Relatively Retiring said...

Another dear little friend to have around, especially with those gorgeous eyes. I am becoming quite serious about making this and your furry jumping spider into soft toys for little E.

pohanginapete said...

RR, that would be wonderful! Can't wait to see the photographs :^)

Relatively Retiring said...

Perhaps they'll be soft toys for P.P. rather than Little E.

pohanginapete said...

RR, I suspect the queue is lengthening right now. E. must have priority, of course ;^)

Zhoen said...

Ok, I really don't see how you can see the beauty of this beast, and still be creeped out by beautiful spiders.

Gah, those hairs.

pohanginapete said...

Eye of the beholder, I guess, Zhoen. I admit my reaction to many spiders isn't logical, though.

Zhoen said...

You are not alone. Apparently there are arachnophobic entomologists.


http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=arachnophobic-entomologists

pohanginapete said...

Fascinating. Thanks Zhoen.