March 2013. Pictures of a tachinid fly were sent by a Research Scholar from the Department of Environmental Studies, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya, India. The sender is studying the pest complex of tomato in Meghalaya and have come acrosss a parasitoid of Helicoverpa armigera which belongs to Tachinidae family. It is found to parasitize late instars (V & VI) of Helicoverpa armigera larvae. I will be really grateful if you can identify the tachinid fly. This parasitoid emerged from H. armigeralarvae collected from West khasi Hills district of Meghalaya.

A member replied: According to your host record and the photo, it is possibly Carceliasp. With these photos, it may be hard to confirm at species level. Carcelia flies can lay their eggs directly on Helicoverpa larvae.