Stock Photo - Tachina fera, parasiticTachinid fly. Length 9-14mm. Wingspan 16-27mm. Body is orangish with black stripe along the center with bristly black hairs at rump. Two generations per year. Flight is end of April-October. Pollinators, they feed on Asteraceae, Cirsium arvense and Apiaceae, Heracleum sphondylium. Females lay eggs on plants where the host caterpillar will feed and ingest the eggs. The fly parasitizes moths of Noctuidae and Lymantriidae, including the Gypsy Moth, Lymantria dispar. When the egg hatches inside the caterpillar, it parasitizes it. Pupation occurs outside host carcass in soil litter. T fera parasitizes: Broom Moth Ceramica pisi; Dun-Bar Cosmia trapezina; Small Quaker Orthosia cruda; Common Quaker Orthosia cerasi; Gypsy Moth, Lymantria dispar, Black Arches, Lymantria monacha; and Pine Beauty,Panolis flammea.