Tachinidae

Tachinidae
Temporal range: Eocene–Recent
Tachina fera
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
(unranked): Eremoneura
(unranked): Cyclorrhapha
Section: Schizophora
Subsection: Calyptratae
Superfamily: Oestroidea
Family: Tachinidae
Bigot, 1853[1]
Subfamilies
Diversity
1,523 genera

The Tachinidae are a large and variable family of true flies within the insect order Diptera, with more than 8,200 known species and many more to be discovered. Over 1,300 species have been described in North America alone. Insects in this family commonly are called tachinid flies or simply tachinids. As far as is known, they all are protelean parasitoids, or occasionally parasites, of arthropods, usually other insects. The family is known from many habitats in all zoogeographical regions and is especially diverse in South America.[2]

"Tachinidae" by Harold Maxwell-Lefroy, 1909
  1. ^ Systema Dipterorum: Tachinidae
  2. ^ James E. O'Hara; Shannon J. Henderson (December 18, 2018). "World Genera of the Tachinidae (Diptera) and Their Regional Occurrence" (PDF).