Ladybird Fly (lat. Gymnosoma rotundatum)

Ladybird Fly

Gymnosoma rotundatum is a Palaearctic species of fly in the family Tachinidae.

Description

Gymnosoma rotundatum, sometimes referred to as a ladybird fly, is a small 5-6mm long fly. It has a dark thorax, golden in males, and a globular orange abdomen decorated with dark rounded markings along the midline. The base of the wings are yellow-brown.

Behaviour

The larvae grow as parasites of shield bugs in the Pentatomidae family. In Britain, the species is often recorded in warm dry sites, where it visits a range of open shallow flowers.

Distribution

British Isles, Belarus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Denmark, Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Corsica, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Malta, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, Iran, Russia, Transcaucasia, China, Japan, Taiwan.

Copyright and source information

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