View source for Trichopoda pennipes

{{Short description|Species of fly}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Trichopoda pennipes - Stefano Gioda.jpg
| image_caption = ''Trichopoda pennipes''
| genus = Trichopoda
| species = pennipes
| parent = Galactomyia
| display_parents = 4
| authority = ([[Johan Christian Fabricius|Fabricius]], 1781)<ref name="Fabricius1781">{{cite book |last1=Fabricius |first1=J.C. |title=Species insectorum |volume= 2 |year=1781 |publisher=C. E. Bohnii |location=Hamburgi et Kilonii [= Hamburg and Kiel] |pages=494}}</ref>
|synonyms=*''Musca pennipes'' <small>[[Johan Christian Fabricius|Fabricius]], 1781</small><ref name="Fabricius1781"/>
*''Phasia jugatoria'' <small>[[Thomas Say|Say]], 1829</small>
*''Thereva hirtipes'' <small>[[Johan Christian Fabricius|Fabricius]], 1805</small><ref name="Fabricius1805">{{cite book |last1=Fabricius |first1=Johann Christian |title=Systema antliatorum secundum ordines, genera, species |date=1805 |publisher=Apud Carolum Reichard |location=Bransvigae |pages=i-xiv, 1–373| url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/53432#page/9/mode/1up |access-date=5 June 2020}}</ref>
*''Thereva pennipes'' <small>[[Johan Christian Fabricius|Fabricius]], 1805</small><ref name="Fabricius1805"/>
*''Trichopoda cilipes'' <small>[[Christian Rudolph Wilhelm Wiedemann|Wiedemann]], 1830</small><ref name="Wiedemann1830">{{cite book |last1=Wiedemann |first1=Christian Rudolph Wilhelm |title=Aussereuropäische Zweiflügelige Insekten |date=1830 |volume=2 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/88495#page/7/mode/1up |access-date=21 April 2020}}</ref>
*''Trichopoda flavicornis'' <small>[[Jean-Baptiste Robineau-Desvoidy|Robineau-Desvoidy]], 1830</small><ref name="Robineau-Desvoidy1830">{{cite journal |last1=Robineau-Desvoidy |first1=J.B. |title=Essai sur les myodaires |journal=Mémoires présentés par divers savans à l'Académie Royale des Sciences de l'Institut de France (Sciences Mathématiques et Physiques) |date=1830 |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=1–813 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3472165#page/9/mode/1up |access-date=7 January 2022}}</ref>
*''Trichopodopsis giacomellii'' <small>[[Émile Blanchard|Blanchard]], 1966</small><ref name="Blanchard1966">{{cite journal |last1=Blanchard |first1=E.E. |title=Nuevos triquiopodinos argentinos, parásitos de hemípteros nocivos. (Dipt. Gymnosomatidae) |journal=Revista de Investigaciones Agropecuarias. Serie 5 Patología Vegetal |date=1966 |volume=3 |pages=59–95 + 2 pls}}</ref>
*''Eutrichopodopsis funebris'' <small>[[Émile Blanchard|Blanchard]], 1966</small><ref name="Blanchard1966"/>
*''Eutrichopodopsis nitens'' <small>[[Émile Blanchard|Blanchard]], 1966</small><ref name="Blanchard1966"/>
*''Eutrichopodopsis imitans'' <small>[[Émile Blanchard|Blanchard]], 1966</small><ref name="Blanchard1966"/>
*''Eutrichopodopsis similis'' <small>[[Émile Blanchard|Blanchard]], 1966</small><ref name="Blanchard1966"/>
*''Eutrichopodopsis bruchi'' <small>[[Émile Blanchard|Blanchard]], 1966</small><ref name="Blanchard1966"/>
*''Trichopodopsis nigrifrontalis'' <small>[[Émile Blanchard|Blanchard]], 1966</small><ref name="Blanchard1966"/>
*''Trichopodopsis bosqi'' <small>[[Émile Blanchard|Blanchard]], 1966</small><ref name="Blanchard1966"/>
*''Trichopoda gustavoi'' <small>Mallea, Mácola & García, 1977</small>
}}

'''''Trichopoda pennipes''''' is a species of [[Trichopoda|feather-legged fly]] in the [[diptera]]n family [[Tachinidae]].<ref name="DiosNihei2020">{{cite journal |last1=Dios |first1=R.V.P. |last2=Nihei |first2=S.S. |title=Taxonomic revision of the genus ''Trichopoda'' Berthold, 1827 (Diptera: Tachinidae: Phasiinae), with emphasis on the Neotropical fauna |journal=Zootaxa |date=2020 |volume=4870 |issue=1 |pages=zootaxa.4870.1.1 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.4870.1.1 |pmid=33311339 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/345323977 |access-date=3 September 2023}}</ref><ref name="OHara2020">{{cite web |last1=O’Hara |first1=James E. |last2=Henderson |first2=Shannon J. |first3=D. Monty |last3=Wood |title=Preliminary Checklist of the Tachinidae (Diptera) of the World|url=http://www.nadsdiptera.org/Tach/WorldTachs/Checklist/Tachchlist_ver2.1.pdf |website=Tachinidae Resources |access-date=21 August 2023 |date=5 March 2020}}</ref>

==Distribution==
This species is native to [[North America]] ([[United States]], [[Mexico]]),<ref>Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D. [http://www.catalogueoflife.org/annual-checklist/2011/details/species/id/8648091 Catalogue of life]</ref> [[Hawaiian Islands]] and [[South America]]<ref name="WISC">{{cite web | url = http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/mbcn/kyf605.html | title = ''Trichopodes pennipes'', Parasitoid of True Bugs | first = Mahr | last = Susan | publisher = University of Wisconsin }}</ref> and has been introduced into southern [[Europe]] ([[France]], [[Italy]] and [[Spain]]).<ref>[https://fauna-eu.org/cdm_dataportal/taxon/3cc92fd7-2842-4998-a066-ef46d3b54838 Fauna europaea]</ref><ref name="BG">{{cite web | url = http://bugguide.net/node/view/13284 | title = Species Trichopoda pennipes | first = Leung | last = Richard | date = 2005-03-20 | publisher = Iowa State University Entomology. }}</ref>

==Habitat==
This species inhabits grasslands, hedge rows and crops where its key hosts are present.<ref name="CU"/>

==Morphology==
[[File:Trichopoda pennipes.jpg|thumb|300px|left|''Trichopoda pennipes'' showing the comb-like fringe of flattened hairs]]
''Trichopoda pennipes'' can reach a length of {{convert|10.5|mm}},<ref>[http://eol.org/pages/763440/overview#161 Encyclopedia of life]</ref> about the size of a large [[housefly]]. These medium-sized flies have a velvety, black head. The black or brown [[Thorax (insect anatomy)|thorax]] shows a few yellow stripes. Eyes are large, brown with yellow between. The color of the slender [[abdomen]] varies from bright orange to completely black. Females usually have a dark-tipped abdomen, while males have a dark orange apex. Wings are transparent, smoky with prominent veins. In the females they are evenly dusky, with the posterior margin sub-hyaline. Male flies have a ferrugineous marking on the wings. This fly has huge [[halteres]]. Legs are black, with yellow feet. The hind legs bear a prominent feather-like fringe of flattened hairs.<ref name="WISC"/><ref name="CU">Pickett, Charles H.  [https://biocontrol.entomology.cornell.edu/parasitoids/trichopoda.php "Trichopoda pennipes (Diptera: Tachinidae)"] College of Agriculture and Life Sciences - Cornell University.</ref>

[[File:Nezara viridula f. torquata & Trichopoda pictipennis MHNT.jpg|thumb|Egg on the head of a green stinkbug (''[[Nezara viridula]]'')]]

==Life cycle==
''Trichopoda pennipes'' first appears in the late spring or early summer and feeds on nectar sucked from flowers such as [[Daucus carota|Queen Anne's lace]] and [[Spiraea|meadowsweet]]. It may be seen hovering over other plants in search of suitable bugs on which to lay its eggs, most commonly squash bugs and southern green stinkbugs. The female fly lays several small, pale-coloured, oval [[Egg (biology)|eggs]] on a large [[Nymph (biology)|nymph]] or an adult bug. In fact the larvae are [[parasitoids]] of several [[Hemiptera|true bugs]], particularly [[squash bug]]s and leaf-footed bugs in the family [[Coreidae]] (including the large-sized ''[[Leptoglossus occidentalis]]''), stinkbugs in the family [[Pentatomidae]] and other pentatomorph bugs ([[Largidae]] and [[Scutelleridae]] species).<ref name="BG"/>

When the eggs hatch, the larvae burrow into the bug. If there are several larvae in one host, only one survives. After feeding on the bug's tissues, the cream-coloured larva emerges and falls to the ground where it pupates in a reddish-brown [[pupa]]rium formed from the last larval skin. The bug meanwhile dies. After about two weeks, an adult fly emerges from the pupa. After mating, a female fly may lay several hundred eggs in total. There are up to three generations of the fly each year and the parasitoid overwinters as a second [[instar]] larva within the body of the overwintering [[Host (biology)|host]].<ref name="WISC"/><ref name="CE">Hoffmann, M.P. and Frodsham, A.C. ''Natural Enemies of Vegetable Insect Pests''. (1993) Cooperative Extension, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.</ref>

==Use in biological control==
''Trichopoda pennipes'' is used as a biological control agent for agricultural [[Pest (organism)|pest]]s. One of the principal host species for ''T. pennipes'' is the southern green stinkbug, ''[[Nezara viridula]]''. This is a crop pest that originated in [[Ethiopia]] but now has a worldwide distribution and is named for the foul-smelling defensive secretion it exudes from a gland on its thorax. This exudate appears to be fairly effective in preventing predation by birds but is well tolerated by ''T. pennipes''<ref name="EES">Eisner, T., Eisner, M. and Siegler, M. ''Secret Weapons: Defenses of Insects, Spiders, Scorpions, and Other Many-Legged Creatures.'' (2005) Belknap Press</ref> which seems to be highly attracted by an aggregation [[pheromone]] produced by the male bugs. This results in a higher proportion of males being parasitised than females.<ref name="WISC"/>

There seem to be different biotypes across the [[United States]], preying on different hosts in different regions. In northern [[California]], a population of the fly parasitised the bordered plant bug, ''[[Largus succinctus]]'', but did not attack the squash bug, ''[[Anasa tristis]]''. In an experiment, ''T. pennipes'' was collected from squash fields in [[New York (state)|New York State]] and released near [[Squash (plant)|squash]] fields in California. The insects targeted the squash bugs and established permanent populations. Their eggs are now found deposited on nearly 50% of the squash bugs in the area but it is unclear how effective this is in controlling the crop pests.<ref name="EES"/> On the southern green stink bug, the rate of parasitism can be as high as 93% and up to 80% on the squash bug. However, ''T. pennipes'' does not prevent all crop damage as the bugs continue to feed and reproduce after being parasitised, though the reproductive organs begin to atrophy when the parasitoid reaches the second instar stage. Control of the pest is more effective when nymphs are parasitised since half of these die before becoming adults and any that overwinter will die before laying eggs.<ref name="WISC"/>

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="240" heights="180">
File: Fly August 2008-1.jpg|Male, with ferrugineous marking on the wings
File: Tachinidae - Trichopoda pennipes.JPG|Female with black abdomen and evenly dusky wings, with the posterior margin sub-hyaline
File: Feather-legged Fly - Trichopoda pennipes, Julie Metz Wetlands, Woodbridge, Virginia.jpg| Female with orange black-tipped abdomen
Feather-legged Fly (Trichopoda pennipes).jpg|Front view
</gallery>

==References==
{{Wikispecies}}
{{Commons}}
{{Reflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q1211203}}
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[[Category:Tachinidae]]
[[Category:Diptera of Europe]]
[[Category:Diptera of North America]]
[[Category:Diptera of South America]]
[[Category:Insects described in 1781]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius]]
[[Category:Diptera used as pest control agents]]
[[Category:Insects used as insect pest control agents]]