Thistle borer fly

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Thistle borer fly
Thistle Borefly (Urophora cardui), female

Thistle Borefly ( Urophora cardui ), female

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Fly (Diptera)
Subordination : Flies (Brachycera)
Family : Drill flies (Tephritidae)
Genre : Urophora
Type : Thistle borer fly
Scientific name
Urophora cardui
( Linnaeus , 1758)
Bile of the thistle fly on a thistle
Open bile with a larva of the thistle borer fly

The thistle borer fly ( Urophora cardui ) is a fly from the family of bored flies (Tephritidae).

features

The flies reach a body length of about 5.5 millimeters (males) or about 6.5 millimeters (females). Her body is very distinctive in color. The head is colored yellow in front and black in the back. The scutellum is yellow, the abdomen and thorax are dark. The black colored thighs are broadly colored yellow at the apex, the thighs of the front legs are often also colored yellow in front. The rails and tarsi are completely yellow. The otherwise milky, cloudy wings have several black cross bars. The second and third bandages converge towards the rear and are connected there, the first two and the last two bandages merge at the leading edge of the wing. The first band extends to the rear edge of the wing.

Occurrence and way of life

The animals come from Europe to the Middle East. The adults can be found from May to June in partially shaded places and wet meadows. The larvae form a large, 10 to 50 millimeter long and 5 to 20 millimeter thick, spindle-shaped plant gall on the field thistle ( Cirsium arvense ). This is either on the main shoots or on the side shoots and is initially green and fleshy, later brown and woody. Inside there are several chambers, each with a larva, which begins to develop in July. They hibernate in the gall as pupae and hatch in the next spring.

supporting documents

literature

Web links

Commons : Thistle Borefly  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files