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Cyzenis albicans
Cyzenis albicans is a species of fly in the family Tachinidae. A parasitoid, it lays its eggs on leaves of oak, maple, birch and other trees, so that when the leaves are consumed by the larvae of the host winter moth, the eggs hatch inside the larvae. The fly is native to Europe and Asia but has been introduced into North America as a biological control agent of the invasive winter moth.
From the article Cyzenis albicans on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
What it does
Cyzenis albicans is a parasitoid, the female laying its eggs on the surface of leaves which are then eaten by the larvae of suitable host moth species. This fly is synovigenic, continuing to produce and mature eggs throughout its adult life and needing to feed in order to do so. The fly larvae feed internally on the moth larvae, pupating within the moth pupae when their hosts have fallen to the ground, and emerging as adults the following spring.
Wikipedia: “Ecology”
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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Every page naming Cyzenis albicans in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 914944.