How to distinguish tahini flies from others. Tahina is an unusual fly guarding your garden. Flies: “flies bite harder before it rains”

All those who believe that flies are useless creatures are very mistaken. Tahina flies are very useful, especially for garden and vegetable crops. Their larvae are natural enemies of many insects that cause significant damage to agriculture.

They were nicknamed hedgehogs for the many hard bristles covering their entire body. In general, their appearance differs little from appearance ordinary flies. In total, the tahini fly family includes more than 8,200 species. Depending on the species, their body length varies from 3 millimeters to 2 centimeters. The abdomen consists of 4 rings.

These flies love sunny, but not hot weather. At this time, tahini can most often be seen on plant flowers, where they feed on pollen and nectar. But not all species show their main activity during daylight hours.

According to the method of infecting other insects with their larvae, all hedgehog flies can be divided into 3 groups:

First lay their eggs on the leaves of plants, where sawfly caterpillars, butterfly caterpillars and other insect pests crawl nearby. Their eggs are so small that caterpillars eating a leaf may not even notice them.
Second specialize in soil insects and lay their eggs in the ground, where the larvae that hatch after some time begin an independent search for their future food supply (adult insects or their larvae).
Still others lay eggs directly IN or ON the body of the insect.

Very rare, but viviparous species of these flies are also found. Most often, in one caterpillar prey there are larvae of only one type of fly, and even then only a few - no more than 2-3 individuals.

Thus, by regulating the number of insect pests, tachines are of great benefit. They are especially good for combating the Colorado potato beetle, gypsy moths, chafers, bedbugs, butterflies and other pests.

Scientific classification:
Domain: Eukaryotes
Kingdom: Animals
Type: Arthropods
Class: Insects
Squad: Diptera
Family: Tachins (lat. Tachinidae (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830))

Irina Leonidovna Ermolaeva, a specialist in plant protection from pests and diseases, tells the story.

In our gardens there are not only visible enemies, but also friends. These are various predatory beetles, ground beetles, hoverflies, ladybugs, ants and spiders, which, while feeding, invisibly help us by destroying pests at different stages of development.

To attract beneficial insects and to stimulate their active work, nectar plants should be sown, i.e. plants that attract such helpers. These are phacelia, mustard, buckwheat, carrot seeds, onions, etc. Moreover, it is necessary to create a flower-nectar conveyor - sow them in different terms in the aisles or in empty spaces.

Tahina fly

One of the many beneficial insects is the tahina fly. The range of pests it destroys is simply huge, and its efficiency is high. Suffice it to say that the number of silkworms, sawflies, leaf rollers, moths, and tahini moths is kept under constant control. The survival and accumulation of these flies is facilitated by the presence of flowering carrots, parsnips, honey and other umbelliferous crops.

The body of tahine flies is usually covered with strong bristles, and therefore they are also called hedge flies. The family of tahina flies includes about 5 thousand species.

Tachin flies find their hosts in different ways. Some types of flies lay their very small eggs on the surface of a leaf, where the caterpillar feeds. Caterpillars, eating a leaf, swallow eggs, then larvae appear inside the caterpillar, which feed on the body of the host insect, which leads to its death. Other species lay eggs directly into the body of the host insect. And finally, there are species of tachinas, the larvae of which find a host themselves and gnaw into his body.

Tahini flies lay a large number of eggs, and therefore one fly can destroy many caterpillars.

Ants and spiders

Ants and spiders do a great job of killing pests. You can sow coriander and anise next to cabbage. When sown at the same time, they bloom from May to September. Their flowers feed many beneficial insects and do not attract butterflies, whose caterpillars damage cabbage.

Ants are orderlies. They build their homes in and above the soil and are of great benefit. Numerous ant passages make the soil looser, and this improves breathing conditions for plant roots. While getting food for themselves, ants bring a huge number of insect pests and their larvae into the passages and chambers of the anthill: the inhabitants of just one anthill destroy on average up to 20 million garden pests per year. But it is worth monitoring the increase in the number of ants, this can lead to oppression of the garden, and because of the favorite delicacy of ants, which is secreted by aphids, they also contribute to the settlement of aphid colonies. Here you need to think about whether it is worth leaving ants in your areas or not.

Spiders. A significant part of the prey of spiders of the families of jumping spiders (Salticidae), funnel-web spiders (Agelenidae), wolf spiders (Licosidae), and side-walking spiders (Thomisidae) consists of such dangerous pests like a nasty turtle Colorado beetle, meadow moth, different kinds moths, many dipterans.

Attention! I would like to warn you that beneficial insects, like pests, overwinter in the bark, leaves, and soil garden plot. And in the summer, you shouldn’t catch all the insects you see in the garden, because you can leave the garden without defenders - beneficial insects, which are called entomophages.

ladybugs

Everyone knows what it looks like ladybug, but not everyone is aware of the benefits it brings. She is prolific and lays eggs in small groups of 30, the eggs are yellow, similar to the eggs of the Colorado potato beetle and hawthorn butterfly.

An adult beetle eats 100–200 aphids per day; the larvae are ten times more voracious than mites, whiteflies (Aleyrodidae) and scale insects (Coccoidea).

Ladybugs will be attracted to our garden by plants of the Asteraceae family: daisies, tansy, or yarrow.

Ladybug larva

Ground beetles

These workers can be seen in the process of digging or loosening the soil. These are nocturnal predators that hunt insects living in the soil: pupae of fire butterflies, moths, larvae of click beetles (wireworms), and gall midges. Destroy slugs and caterpillars. The menu of one ground beetle per day is about one hundred moth larvae, 5 adult moth caterpillars and 5–6 weevil larvae. And the larvae are much more voracious than adults; they sit in dug holes and grab insects crawling by.

To have more ground beetles in the garden, take care of soil fertility. Those. apply in spring and autumn organic fertilizers, humus, etc.

Lacewing

This is a gentle and slender insect. The color is soft green. Adult insects feed on flower nectar, aphid honeydew, pollen, as well as the mites and aphids themselves, destroying up to 4,000 individuals per day. The larvae suck spider mites and aphids. The lacewing prefers cool conditions for breeding. shady places, covered with thickets of fern.

Ktyri flies

The two-centimeter black fly cannot be confused with any other fly. Powerful paws armed with bristles and suckers. A strong proboscis, pointed at the end, protrudes from the flattened head. They can pierce even such a strong shell as beetles have.

Ktyri, destroying a lot of harmful insects, bring undoubted benefits. Their menu includes beetles, flies, flies, leafhoppers, butterflies and even caterpillars. Not only adult insects are useful, but also larvae that live in the soil and destroy the larvae of click beetles, beetles and darkling beetles, locust eggs and caterpillars that gnaw at the cutworm.

Interesting. The largest birds reach 5 centimeters. You should not touch the tyres with your hands - their bite is as painful as a bee sting.

Such flies are attracted to plants from the aster family - goldenrod, chamomile, daisies, as well as various types of mint - catnip, peppermint and spearmint.

Trichogramma

This is an egg eater, the mass reproduction of which has already been put on an industrial basis. Female Trichogramma lay their eggs in the eggs of many pests - codling moth, yellow moth and palefoot gooseberry sawfly, meadow moth, cabbage cutworm, cabbage white moth and others.

Since these insects are very small, they take nectar from small open flowers like anise, dill. Plants of the celery family provide a good shelter for them.

From the above it follows that the more nurse plants you have in your garden, the fewer problems you will have with pests. These plants can be placed along the edges of the garden or border areas with vegetables. Plant species should be selected so that they bloom for a long time, replacing each other. Marigolds, alyssum, tansy, chamomile, and daisies are suitable for this. Savory, lavender, hyssop, basil, rosemary, and oregano bloom for a long time.

We can name many more beneficial insects - our helpers. But their number is still less than that of pests. Birds, frogs and toads, dragonflies, spiders - many animals help make the garden pest-free and healthy. But they themselves do not have protection from chemicals.

Chemical treatments primarily destroy beneficial insects, since for a number of reasons they are more sensitive to chemicals and, in addition, their numbers are much smaller. Against the background of an abundant food supply and the absence of natural enemies, the pests remaining after treatment begin to multiply intensively. First of all, this applies to sucking pests - aphids and mites, which produce several generations during the growing season.

This information is for chemistry lovers and for those who consider it necessary to destroy everything that flies, crawls, and jumps around the site.

Tahins or hedgehogs– gray “mice” against the backdrop of a summer meadow compared to bright ones, and others. You, friends, when you hear the word fly, it is quite natural for you to associate it with the annoying familiar to all of us. But tahins are different, they are useful and even very useful. But first things first.

Tahini feed on flower nectar and pollen. Therefore, the first benefit from them, like from bees, is that they pollinate plants. But that's not even the main thing. Tachinids lay their microscopic eggs on young leaves, which are eaten by caterpillars along with the leaf. From the eggs, as you guessed, larvae are born, and inside the caterpillar. Feeding on the tissues of the pest, they ultimately destroy it. And if you consider that one tahina fly lays about 7 thousand eggs, then imagine how many caterpillars of various pests it will destroy.

Total Tahinov there are more than five thousand species. I can’t tell you about each of them in detail in one article. Let me just say that not all tahini eggs are laid on leaves. Some of them lay eggs directly on the caterpillar, and the larvae, upon hatching, gnaw through the outer cover and penetrate inside the caterpillar. Other species lay eggs directly in the ground and the larvae independently search for their prey.

We are accustomed to consider a fly harmful, nasty, annoying and extremely dangerous insects, which carries on its paws microbes dangerous to humans. Flies can be found wherever there is sewage: in garbage containers, latrines, on carrion, etc. But the main trouble is that they try to get into the kitchen and sit on food, which is extremely dangerous. That is why we treat these insects with hostility and try to get rid of them in every possible way.

But are all flies dangerous? It turns out not. You won't believe it, but among these nasty and annoying insects There are harmless and even useful individuals. These include, for example, the tahina fly. She is not at all interested in your kitchen, and she does not fly into the room. There’s simply nothing for it to do there, because the fly feeds on nectar, extracting it from flowers.

But then, what is the use of it?

The larva has the appearance of a maggot, about four centimeters in size. Her body is covered with a scaly shell. It stays in the victim's body for twenty days and then pupates. The pupal stage lasts 10 days, after which a young fly emerges from the cocoon. Its size is no more than two centimeters. The color can be completely different. It all depends on the type of insect. The fly's head is incredibly large, with large round eyes and small antennae. Six legs. The fly feeds exclusively on nectar and pollen of flowers. They are most active during the daytime. It cannot stand hot weather and waits out this time in the shade of trees.

The fly reproduces three times a year. Flies that have overwintered in cocoons fly out of them in June. This is the first generation. The second generation appears in July, and the third in September. After mating with the male, the female tahina looks for a victim in whose body her larvae will develop. As a rule, these are caterpillars, and others harmful insects, on whose bodies she lays eggs. Infection occurs instantly. Thanks to their special pointed shape, the eggs easily pierce the chitinous shell of the victim, which allows the larva to penetrate its body.

The larva lives at the expense of its victim, without touching it. internal organs. This is done with the aim of ensuring a comfortable existence for the entire cycle of its development at this stage. Only after this does she release an enzyme into the victim’s body, which dissolves its internal organs, turning them into nutrient. The larval stage is over and the prey can be eaten.

The fly can also lay eggs on the leaves of plants. They are very small and invisible to insects. The eggs patiently wait for their prey. It could be the same caterpillar that feeds on leaves. She will swallow them with them. You already know what happens next.

Sometimes, without waiting for the victim, larvae hatch from the eggs and begin to actively move, trying to find it.

Viviparous tachinas are also found. Their larvae are extremely active. If the fly does not give birth to them in time, then it itself becomes their victim.

The victims of the fly are: caterpillars, Colorado potato beetles, May beetles, weevils, sawflies, apple moths, bedbugs, bees, bumblebees. The larvae may not kill their prey immediately, but use them as a place for wintering. But then they destroy it anyway.

There are at least 8,000 species in the world fauna, in Russia - 700. Tachins play an important role in biogeocenoses as regulators of the number of many species of insects, including economically dangerous ones (the range of hosts of tachins includes, in particular, Lepidoptera from many families, Hymenoptera , Coleoptera, Hemiptera, cockroaches, earwigs, mantises, some Diptera, Embii and Orthoptera) (Fig. 84-86).

Females of some species of tahini lay eggs on the integument of the host, while females of other species insert eggs into the host’s body. Among the tachinas there is a group of flies that lay small eggs on the host's food plant. A special place is occupied by ovoviviparous tachines, which lay larvae in the host’s habitat. Tachin larvae develop in the host's body before pupation.

Rice. 84. Diptera from the family Tachinidae: A - Tachina grossa, B - Ernestia rudis, C - tahina Istochaeta lays eggs on mating beetles Popillia japonica, D - eggs of Winthemia cruentata on a hawkmoth caterpillar, E - eggs of Ectophasia crassipennis on a harmful turtle (G - Gaponov , 1997, 2003; D - Viktorov, 1967).

There are two large groups of tachinas based on the method of infecting the host. The first group includes tachins, which lay eggs on the host. The fertility of females of these species is relatively low (100-200 eggs). Within this group there are two subgroups:

1.1. The eggs at the time of laying do not contain a developed embryo. The development of the eggs is completed on the host, the larvae independently burrow into the host (oviparous type of development);

1.2. The egg completes its development in the female reproductive tract, and as a result has

place of ovoviviparity. Phylogenetically, this subgroup is related to the first. In female species of this subgroup, the vagina, into which the unpaired oviduct flows, turns into an “uterus” containing fertilized and developing eggs. At the moment of laying, the egg contains a larva that is already developed and ready to hatch.

Rice. 85. Larvae of Tachinidae: posterior spiracles of LS: A - Zaira cinerea (III) (Prota, 1963), B - Ernestia rudis (Prell, 1915), C - Blepharipa pratensis (Gaponov, Khitsova, 1995); general form: G - Ernestia rudis (I, planidium on the plant) (Prell, 1915), D - Dexia vacua (I, planidium) (Dupuis, 1963); oropharyngeal apparatus: E - Drino lota (III), F, G - Blepharipa pratensis (F - II, G - III).

The second group includes tachinids that lay eggs outside the host, but near it or on its food plant. The host is infected by actively moving larvae of the first instar or by eggs ingested with food. Within the second group, two subgroups are also distinguished:

2.1. Ovolarviparous (ovoviviparous) species with a planidium-type larva. A first instar larva emerges from the thin-walled egg immediately after it is laid, lying in wait or actively searching for a host (Fig. 85);

2.2. Microoviparous species with small (microtypic) eggs attached to forage plant owner. First instar larvae hatch from eggs swallowed by the host along with food.

Adult flies feed on nectar and pollen, being quite valuable to pollinators. Tachins are used in biological methods of plant protection, as they are important regulators of the number of insect hosts.

Rice. 86. Wings of Rhinophoridae (A) and Tachinidae (B-D): A - Rhinophora lepida, B - Gymnosoma rotundatum, C - Alophorapusilla, D - Athrycia impressa, E - Elomyia lateralis (Bey-Bienko, 1970)