A portrait of a tachina fly, made with magnification factor 4 and f/14. The micro has been made using a Canon 7D and a Canon macro lens MP-E 65mm/f2.8.
Tachinidae is a large and rather variable family of true flies within the insect order Diptera, with more than 8,200 known species and many more to be discovered. There are 337 species in The Netherlands. Insects in this family are commonly called tachina flies or simply tachinids. Larvae (maggots) of most members of this family are parasitoids (developing inside a living host, ultimately killing it). In contrast a few are parasitic (not generally killing the host). Tachinid larvae feed on the host tissues, either after having been injected into the host by the parent, or penetrating the host from outside (source: Wikipedia).
