Exorista larvarum

Exorista larvarum is a Palaearctic species of fly in the family Tachinidae.

Distribution
Canada, United States, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, British Isles, Belarus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Bulgaria, Corsica, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Japan, North Korea, Iran, Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Mongolia, Egypt, Tunisia, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, China, India, Taiwan.

Hosts
Lepidoptera larvae, mainly Lymantriidae and Lasiocampidae. It attacks Lymantria dispar dispar. Studies have been conducted into its ability to successfully prey on Mythimna unipuncta  and Cydalima perspectalis .

Parasitic nature
It lays an egg on its host. The egg hatches and the larva penetrates the host. The host could escape this fate by molting before the egg hatches.

Artificial Diets
For rearing Exorista larvarum in controlled conditions, inexpensive diets are preferable. MEYS contains liquid skimmed milk, chicken egg yolk, yeast extract and saccharose and HEYS contains veal homogenate, chicken egg yolk, yeast extract and saccharose. Though many variations of the diet yield different results. Larvae have a tendency to wander, which can result in starvation, so reducing wander is important for maximizing yields.