Tachina Fly

Description:

Considered a beneficial bug. Prey are primarily squash bug and southern green stinkbug. Although Trichopoda pennipes is a parasitoid of several true bugs, there appear to be different biotypes across the country. Limited field studies suggest that different populations, or perhaps cryptic species, attack different species (types) of true bugs. For example, in California, a population of T. pennipes has been reported attacking the bordered plant bug. However the same fly was never found attacking the squash bug.