''Sturmiopsis inferens'' is a species of

fly Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...

in the family

Tachinidae The Tachinidae are a large and variable family of true fly, flies within the insect order Fly, 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 t ...

. It is native to Asia and is a

parasitoid In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host (biology), host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionarily stable str ...

of various moth species whose larvae feed inside the stems of

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

and other large grasses, including the Gurdaspur borer (''Bissetia steniellus'') and the sugarcane shoot borer (''Chilo infuscatellus'').

Description

''Sturmiopsis inferens'' is a stout fly with a silvery-white head, dark brown forehead, hairy parafacial area, densely hairy eyes, yellowish-brown antennae, silvery-white abdomen and brownish-black legs.

Distribution

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

, Bangladesh,

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines.

Host species

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

, this fly parasitises the Gurdaspur borer (''Bissetia steniellus'') and the

gold-fringed rice stemborer ''Chilo auricilius'', the gold-fringed rice stemborer or terai borer, is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Gerald C. Dudgeon in 1905. It is found in India, Taiwan, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, as well as on Sulawesi, Borneo, Sangir Is ...

(''Chilo auricilius''), in

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

it concentrates on the ragi stem borer (''Sesamia inferens'') and in

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

, the main host species is the sugarcane shoot borer (''Chilo infuscatellus''). It also targets other ''Chilo'' spp. including ''

Chilo polychrysus ''Chilo polychrysus'', the dark-headed striped borer, is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Edward Meyrick in 1932. It is found in India, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia. The wingspan is 16–25 mm. The wings ...

'', as well as ''

Scirpophaga nivella ''Scirpophaga nivella'' is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1794. It is found in southern Asia from the Indian Subcontinent in the west to southern China in the east, south to New Guinea and Austra ...

'', which are pests of

Biology

''S. inferens'' is a naturally occurring

of the sugarcane shoot borer (''Chilo infuscatellus'') in India, and it has proved possible to use it as a

biological control Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, whether pest animals such as insects and mites, weeds, or pathogens affecting animals or plants by using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or o ...

of this sugarcane pest. The fly seems to be most active at temperatures between and humidities of over 60% and it can now be reared in the laboratory. Each female fly is capable of infecting up to three hundred larvae, and twenty to fifty females can be released per hectare about two months after planting the sugarcane crop in order to achieve control. This fly is

viviparous In animals, viviparity is development of the embryo inside the body of the mother, with the maternal circulation providing for the metabolic needs of the embryo's development, until the mother gives birth to a fully or partially developed juve ...

. A newly hatched female mates with a slightly older male and there follows a

gestation Gestation is the period of development during the carrying of an embryo, and later fetus, inside viviparous animals (the embryo develops within the parent). It is typical for mammals, but also occurs for some non-mammals. Mammals during pregn ...

period of 12 to 16 days. The female then seeks out a tunnel made by the larvae of a sugarcane borer; she deposits her larvae in the tunnel and they invade the host larvae, making their way in through the cuticle. When fully fed, after 6 to 15 days, the

larvae

pupa A pupa (; : pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages th ...

te in the tunnel, emerging as adults in 12 to 14 days. The length of each life stage depends on the temperature and humidity, the total length of the life cycle being in the range 30 to 45 days.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q14736475 Diptera of Africa Diptera of Asia Tachinidae Insects described in 1916 Taxa named by Charles Henry Tyler Townsend