Stanković et al., 2019, Biologica Nyssana 10(1)


10 (1) September 2019: 59-61
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3464010

Contribution to the knowledge 
of tachinid fauna in Serbia

Short Communication

Saša S. Stanković
University of Niš, Department of Biology and 
Ecology, Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics, 
Višegradska 33, 18000 Niš, Serbia
sasasta@gmail.com (corresponding author)

Marijana Ilić Milošević
Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of 
Sciences and Mathematics, University of Niš, 
Višegradska 33, 18000 Niš, Serbia
marijana183@gmail.com

Vladimir Žikić
Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of 
Sciences and Mathematics, University of Niš, 
Višegradska 33, 18000 Niš, Serbia
vzikic@pmf.ni.ac.rs

Hans-Peter Tschorsnig
Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Rosenstein 1, 
70191 Stuttgart, Germany
hanspeter.tschorsnig@smns-bw.de

Received: August 5, 2019
Revised: September 7, 2019
Accepted: September 9, 2019

Abstract: 
Tachinid flies were reared from several species of Lepidoptera larvae during 
the year 2018. Eight species were recorded from two subfamilies, Exoristinae 
and Tachininae. The species Ceromya bicolor is new for the Serbian fauna. 
Also, for the same territory, the genus Ceromya is recorded for the first time.
Key words: 
Tachinidae, Ceromya bicolor, parasitoids, Serbia

Apstract: 
Doprinos poznavanju faune muva guseničarki u Srbiji
Muve guseničarke su odgajene iz nekoliko vrsta larvi Lepidoptera 
tokom 2018. godine. Registrovano je osam vrsta iz dve podfamilije, 
Exoristinae i Tachininae. Vrsta Ceromya bicolor je nova za faunu Sr-
bije. Takođe, za istu teritoriju je prvi put registrovan rod Ceromya.
Ključne reči: 
Tachinidae, Ceromya bicolor, parazitoidi, Srbija

Tachinid flies are well known parasitoids of other 
arthropods. They parasitize almost exclusively in-
sects, especially larval Lepidoptera, but very rarely 
spiders, scorpions and centipedes (Vincent, 1985; 
Williams et al., 1990; Stireman et al., 2006). Besides 
various parasitic Hymenoptera, tachinids are the 
second most important natural enemies of many pest 
insects in both natural and agroecosystems. Many 
tachinid species are being used in pest managements 
in forestry and crop production systems with notable 
success (Greathead, 1986; Grenier, 1988).

The family Tachinidae is one of the most diverse 
among Diptera order, so far over 10,000 species 
are described worldwide from about 1,520 genera 
(Irwin et al., 2003). The family is divided in four 
subfamilies: Exoristinae, Dexiinae, Phasiinae and 
Tachininae (Herting & Dely - Draskovits, 1993). 
Although, the group is the most diverse in tropical 
regions, in Europe there are registered about 877 
species (according to Fauna Europaea, Internet Da-
tabase). This database listed 242 species for the ter-
ritory of Serbia and Montenegro. However, some re-
cent faunistic papers reported several more species 

for the territory of Serbia. For example, Hubenov 
(2008) reported 288 species for the Serbian fauna, 
Stanković et al. (2014) reported two more species 
and later Stanković et al. (2018) published an up-
dated list of 295 species from which five are newly 
recorded and the new genus Buquetia for the inves-
tigated territory. 

Tachinids were reared from Lepidoptera lar-
vae during the year 2018 mostly from the southern 
part of Serbia. The host larvae were grown in spe-
cial plastic boxes in the laboratory until parasitoids 
emergence. After rearing the adults of tachinid flies, 
they were put in small plastic vials and preserved in 
96 % ethanol. The identification of the species was 
done by the last author of the paper. The rearing of 
parasitoids and all the material is stored at the De-
partment of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sci-
ence and Mathematics, University of Niš, Serbia. 
The remarks are based on a catalogue on Palaearctic 
tachinid-host records (Tschorsnig, 2017). New spe-
cies and genus is newly reported for the investigated 
territory and marked by an asterisk (*). 

© 2019 Stanković, S.S. et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Com-
mons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-com-
mercially under the same license as the original. 59



BIOLOGICA NYSSANA ● 10 (1) September 2019: 59-61 Stanković et al. ● Contribution to the knowledge of tachinid fauna in Serbia

Species list
Subfamily Exoristinae
Erycia fatua (Meigen, 1824) 

3 ♂, 1 ♀, Serbia, Vlasina lake, 27.V 2018. ex 
Melitaea didyma (Esper, 1778) (Nymphalidae), on 
Centaurea jacea L., leg. V. Žikić. Remark: A para-
sitoid of Melitaea, M. didyma was already known 
(see Tschorsnig, 2017: 181).

Erycia festinans (Meigen, 1824)
2 ♂, 4 ♀, Serbia, Vlasina lake, 27.V 2018. ex 
Melitaea phoebe (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775) 
(Nymphalidae), on Centaurea jacea L., leg. S. 
Stanković. Remark: A parasitoid of Melitaea, M. 
phoebe was already known. Erycia festinans is 
morphologically very similar to Erycia fatua (see 
Herting, 1973; Tschorsnig & Herting, 1994). Hav-
ing the same hosts, there remains some doubt if 
both are really separate species. (see Tschorsnig, 
2017: 182).

Eumea mitis (Meigen, 1824) 
1 ♂, Serbia, Niš, Brzi brod, 3.V 2018. unknown 
host, on Sambucus ebulus L., leg. V. Žikić. Re-
mark: A parasitoid of Noctuidae and several mic-
rolepidoteran families (see Tschorsnig, 2017: 187-
188).

Eurysthaea scutellaris (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1848) 
1 ♂, Serbia, Sićevačka klisura (gorge), Ostrovica, 
1.V 2018. ex Yponomeuta sp. (Yponomeutidae) 
on Euonymus japonicus Thunb, leg. V. Žikić. Re-
mark: Common parasitoid of Yponomeuta spp. 
(see Tschorsnig, 2017: 215-216).

Masicera sphingivora (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830) 
2 ♀, Serbia, Vlasina lake, 27.V 2018. ex Melitaea 
didyma (Esper, 1778) (Nymphalidae), on Centau-
rea jacea L., leg. S. Stanković. Remark: A parasi-
toid with many hosts, also M. didyma was already 
known (see Tschorsnig, 2017: 232).

Phryxe hirta (Bigot, 1880) 
1 ♂, Serbia, Vlasina lake, 27.V 2018. ex Heter-
ogynis zikici de Freina, 2018 (Heterogynidae) on 
Chamaecytisus heuffelii (Wierzb. ex Griseb. and 
Schenk) Rothm, leg V. Žikić. Remark: Typical 
parasitoid of Heterogynis spp. (see Tschorsnig, 
2017: 117).

Phryxe vulgaris (Fallén, 1810)
1 ♀, Serbia, Sićevačka klisura (gorge), 7.V 2018. 
ex Brenthis daphne (Bergsträsser, 1780) (Nym-
phalidae), on Rubus sp. leg V. Žikić. Remark: A 
common species which has many hosts; also B. 
daphne is among it (see Tschorsnig, 2017: 133).

Subfamily Tachininae
*Ceromya bicolor (Meigen, 1824)

2 ♂, 2 ♀, Serbia, Paraćin, Bukovik, 5.V 2018. un-
known host, on unknown plant, leg N. Veljković. 
Remark: A small species which occasionally de-
velops in numbers in large Lasiocampidae (see 
Tschorsnig, 2017: 272).

Here we present eight tachinid species collected 
in Serbia from two subfamilies, seven from Exoris-
tinae and one from Tachininae. The species Erycia 
festinans is still not listed in Fauna Europaea for the 
territory of Serbia although it is reported recently 
as a new species for this country in Stanković et al. 
(2018). The same is with the species Phryxe hirta 
which is reported as a new species for Serbia in 
Stanković et al. (2014). The species Ceromya bi-
color is the new species for the Serbian fauna, as 
well as the genus Ceromya.

These observations of L. senator represent a con-
tribution to the distribution and population census of 
this species, and also the need of protection of its 
habitat. 

Acknowledgements. This study was supported by the 
Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Devel-
opment of the Republic of Serbia (III43001). We thank to 
Kjeld Brem Sørensen and Boženka Hric for the identifica-
tion of caterpillars.

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