Tachinid Fly

Nasty pest and parasite of butterflies. Look up how these guys start out in life.... pretty horrific.

This fly is not well documented in Britain, but it is here! It may be confused with Tachina fera, which seems to be better documented but there are some slight differences.

T. magnicornis has the extra 'points' on the black stripe down the back of the body, where T. fera has them at both ends but the pattern swoops in more or less a straight line in between.

T. magnicornis also has a yellow head, although I have read that T. fera has yellowish hairs on it's cheeks, T magnicornis has obvious yellow hairs behind the eyes.

T. magnicornis also has black femurs (thighs), with the rest of the legs being reddish.

T. magnicornis has been recorded frequently as a pollinator of the Burnt orchid, Orchis ustulata which grows mainly in the ch... read morealk and limestone hills of southern England, but is also present in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Durham. This orchid takes over 15 years to flower from seed, so I would consider this bug beneficial as this orchid has declined rapidly .

If my interpretation of French translation is correct, the caterpillars are parasites of the Imago (final stage before an insect hatches) Cutworm.