THE BIOLOGY OF EUPHASIOPTERYX BREVICORNIS 
(TOWNSEND) (DIPTERA, TACHINIDAE), 
PARASITIC IN THE CONE-HEADED GRASSHOPPERS 
(ORTHOPTERA, COPIPHORINAE) * 
By W. L. Nutting 
Biological Laboratories, Harvard University 
The presence of oddly placed, supernumerary “spiracles” 
on a number of cone-headed grasshoppers [N eoconocephalus 
r. rohustus (Scudder)] collected on Cape Cod in August, 
1951, suggested parasitism by dipterous larvae, probably of 
some tachinid fly. Collection and conflnement of a number 
of parasitized individuals during late summer in 1952 and 
’53 eventually led to the successful rearing of three male 
and two female flies. After considerable study, which 
involved not only these specimens but a large part of the 
accessible material in the difficult tribe Ormiini, C. W. 
Sabrosky of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quaran- 
tine is now describing the fly as a new subspecies of 
Euphasiopteryx brevicornis. (Sabrosky, in press). Reinhard 
in 1922 published a record of three larvae which emerged 
from an adult cricket, Gryllus assimilis, and formed puparia. 
Although no flies emerged, C. T. Greene identifled the 
puparia as Ormia Euphasiopteryx) ochracea (Bigot). 
There is but one record of undoubted host relationship for 
the genus, that of “E'. australis (Tns.)” as a parasite of the 
Brazilian mole cricket, Scapteriscus vicinus Scudder, 
reported by Wolcott (1940). ^ The cryptic habits of both 
host and parasite emphasized in the present paper further 
explain the scarcity and incompleteness of the previous 
life history data on these flies. 
The locality where the parasitized cone-heads were 
* Published with the aid of the B. Pickman Mann Fund, Cambridge 
Entomological Club. 
1 Australis sensu Wolcott=E. depleta (Wiedemann) , teste Sabrosky, 
1&53; E. australis (Tns.) from Peru is distinct. Hereafter, E. australis 
sensu Wolcott will be used in quotaition marks. 
69 
