The family Tachinidae contains nearly 10,000 described species of beneficial parasitic flies. As enemies of other insects, particularly herbivores, tachinids are important regulators of host populations in natural and agricultural ecosystems. They help in the natural control of numerous pest insects and have been effectively used in biological control of invasive pests. Despite their diversity and ecological importance, we know little about their interactions with hosts and how these have developed over time. The taxonomic difficulty and lack of a robust classification of tachinids has hindered both basic and applied research. The goals of this project are to reconstruct relationships among groups of tachinid flies using molecular and traditional methods and then use these results to produce a stable classification and to understand patterns of host-use and other life history traits. Another key goal is to broadly distribute taxonomic and biological information on tachinids to researchers and practitioners.
Tachinidae are the most important group of insect parasitoids outside of the wasps. A sound grasp of their history and a reliable taxonomic infrastructure are necessary to understand their roles as enemies, the evolution of their diverse attack strategies, and the causes of their rapid and rampant diversification. Such an understanding can guide the selection of the most effective tachinid biological control agents in agricultural and forest systems and limit the potential negative impacts upon non-targets. It will also inform broad issues in biology such as biogeography, ecological specialization, and the causes of adaptive diversification.
