Tachinid Flies

Types of Flies Bee Fly - Anthrax Blue Bottlefly Drone Fly Flesh Fly Hover Fly Longlegged Fly Robber Flies Small-headed Fly Soldier Fly Types of Insects

Many people would see the blue abdomen of the fly in the picture and assume that this is a blue bottle fly. Bottle flies or blow flies have dark thorax.

The brown thorax on this fly suggests that it is a tachinid fly (family Tachinidae).

There are over a thousand species of tachnid flies in the United States and they can have either metallic colored abdomens or darker gray or black abdomens.

The picture below shows a red-tailed tachinid (Adejeania vexatrix). They can be found in Western fields and forests.

© 2006 Patricia A. Michaels