Sowthistle tephritis
The sowthistle tephritis is a tiny fly with pretty patterned wings. Its wings are light beige with big dark brown spots. Its babies live hidden inside flower heads.
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Fun facts
When its larvae move into a flower head, the flower grows a swelling called a gall around them.
The female is a little bigger than the male and has a pointed tip on her tail for laying eggs. The male's tail is round.
Its eyes are yellow-red.
Each wing is only about 4 to 5 millimetres long.
Most asked questions about Sowthistle tephritis
?Is the sowthistle tephritis dangerous?
No. It is a tiny fly that does not bite or sting.
?How big is the sowthistle tephritis?
It is only 4 to 6 millimetres long.
?Where does the sowthistle tephritis live?
In most of Europe and in the Near East, in meadows, grassland and gardens where its plants grow.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Tephritis formosa
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Tephritidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Tephritidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
- Also known as
- Gall fly
Where the facts come from
- Tephritis formosa (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 AfroBrazilian. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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