Tricharaea (Tricharaea) brevicornis (Wiedemann)

Dowton, Mark & Pape, Thomas, 2013, A key to the Australian Sarcophagidae (Diptera) with special emphasis on Sarcophaga (sensu lato), Zootaxa 3680 (1), pp. 148-189 : 172

Tricharaea (Tricharaea) brevicornis (Wiedemann)

(Figure 69a,b)

Tachina brevicornis Wiedemann, 1830

Tricharaea scatophagina Thomson, 1869

Morphological characters. Longitudinal vittae on thorax faint and with at least one strong proclinate orbital seta present in males. Thorax and abdomen covered in long microtrichosity. Gena with setulae only black. Occiput with at least one row of black setulae behind the ocular setae, with setulae only yellow/white ventrally. Prescutellar acrostichal setae either absent or present in both sexes. Apical scutellar setae absent. Proepisternum bare and some males with long setulae on the hind tibia. 1st and 2nd abdominal sternites with setulae only yellow/white. Body length 5–10 mm.

Geographical distribution. Australia (Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria)— AUSTRALASIAN/OCEANIAN, NEOTROPICAL.

Biology. Tricharaea brevicornis is primarily found in open pastures, open woodlands and along beaches ( Ferrar 1979), and it is likely to have been introduced into Australia by humans. This species has been collected at decayed-carrion baits by KAM but is also known to be attracted to and breed in cow dung ( Ferrar 1979).

Taxonomy. This species is the only Australian representative of the genus Tricharaea . The eggs and larval instars were described by Ferrar (1979). DNA barcode sequences of T. brevicornis have been deposited in both GenBank and BOLD.