Trichopoda pennipes
species of insect

Trichopoda pennipes is a species of feather-legged fly in the dipteran family Tachinidae.
Distribution
This species is native to North America (United States, Mexico), Hawaiian Islands and South America and has been introduced into southern Europe (France, Italy and Spain).
Habitat
This species inhabits grasslands, hedge rows and crops where its key hosts are present.
Morphology
Trichopoda pennipes can reach a length of 10.5 millimetres (0.41 in), about the size of a large housefly. These medium-sized flies have a velvety, black head. The black or brown thorax shows a few yellow stripes. Eyes are large, brown with yellow between. The color of the slender abdomen varies from bright orange to completely black. Females usually have a dark-tipped abdomen, while males have a dark orange apex. Wings are transparent, smoky with prominent veins.
The public source identifies “Trichopoda pennipes” as species of insect. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Trichopoda, pennipes and species.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Trichopoda pennipes”, the useful work is to connect “species of insect” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1211203. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Trichopoda pennipes” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.