Winsome fly
Istocheta aldrichi
The winsome fly is a small fly from Japan with a very special job. It only goes after one kind of beetle, the Japanese beetle, which eats lots of garden plants. People brought it to North America to help protect their gardens.
Lives in
Japan, Korea, eastern Russia and Taiwan, and now northeastern USA and Canada
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people. It is a helper in the garden.
What does it eat?
The grown-up fly visits flowers. Its babies grow up inside Japanese beetles and feed on them.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
Winsome fly about 8 km/h (5 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It was brought to North America in 1922 to fight the Japanese beetle.
2
The mother fly glues an egg onto the back of a beetle, just behind its head.
3
It seems to pick only Japanese beetles and leaves other beetles alone.
you asked
Most asked questions about Winsome fly
?Is the winsome fly dangerous?
No. It is harmless to people and helps by attacking Japanese beetles.
?Why was the winsome fly brought to America?
To help control Japanese beetles, which damage many garden plants.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Istocheta aldrichi
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Tachinidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Tachinidae
- Lives on
- Asia, North America
Where the facts come from
- Istocheta aldrichi (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by (c) Benjamin Burgunder, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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