Family Tachinidae

Bodenheimer (Animal Life in Palestine, 1935) has this to say:
The Tachinids are parasites of large moth-caterpillars. They are not very abundant here when compared with their great numbers in Europe. Here and there some Tachinid flies may be bred, as Echinomya fera or Eudoromyia magnicornis from Lymantria lapidicola, but apparently they do not attack any considerable number of their hosts. Many of the eggs perish during the moult of its host and many young maggots are killed in the interior of the host. Some species as Compsilura concinna ovipostit within the body of the host caterpillar, others as Eutachina larvarum on its exterior or in its neighbourhood. Mintho isis, a black fly with a red abdomen, is rather common in houses. Nothing is known about its life history which may be connected with cockroaches.

From Wikipedia:
Tachinidae is a large and rather variable family of true flies within the insect order Diptera, with more than 8,200 known species and many more to be discovered.
Insects in this family are commonly called tachinid flies; they have no vernacular common name.
They occur in almost all habitats all over the world. There are Neotropical, Nearctic, Afrotropical, Paleoarctic, Oriental, Australasian and Oceanic species. A typical characteristic of this family is the fact that most of them are parasitoids (the larvae develop inside a living host, ultimately killing it), and a few are parasitic (do not kill the host). Larvae are endoparasites (internal parasites) of caterpillars of butterflies and moths, adult and larval beetles, sawfly larvae, various types of true bugs and grasshoppers, rarely in centipedes, with usually only one grub. Only a few species are host species-specific. As such, many are important natural enemies of major pests. Some species are being used in biological pest control. Many important pests are suppressed by tachinids.
Reproductive strategies are highly variable between species. The female may lay her white oval eggs on the skin of the host insect, or insert the egg into the host's body, or leave them in the host's environment, as for example on leaves, where the host will ingest them. Some tachinids that are parasitoids of stem-boring caterpillars deposit eggs outside the host's burrow, letting the larvae do the work of finding the host itself. In other species, the maggots use an ambush technique, waiting for the host to pass and then attacking it and burrowing into its body. The larvae feed on the host tissues, causing death, except in some rare parasitic species.
Tachinid flies are extremely varied in appearance. Adult flies may be brilliantly colored and then resemble blow-flies (family Calliphoridae), or rather drab, and then resemble house flies. But tachinid flies are more bristly and more robust. They have three-segmented antennae, a diagnostically prominent postscutellum bulging beneath the scutellum (a segment of the mesonotum), bare (sometimes plumose) arista. The calypters (small flaps above the halteres) are usually very large. Their fourth long vein bends away sharply.
Adult flies feed on flowers and nectar from aphids and scales As many species typically feed on pollen, they can be important pollinators of some plants, especially at higher elevations in mountains where bees decrease in numbers.
The taxonomy of this family presents many difficulties. It is largely based on morphological characters of the adult flies, but also on reproductive habits and the immature stage.

Species	Reference source	Collection
Actia infantula (Zetterstedt, 1844)	Kugler, 1979
Aphria longirostris (Meigen, 1824)	Kugler, 1974
Bithia golanensis (Kugler, 1971)	Kugler, 1979
Bithia hermonensis Kugler	Kugler, 1979
Bithia modesta (Meigen, 1824)	Kugler, 1979
Bithia pouciseta Kugler	Kugler, 1979
Bithia setulosa (Kugler, 1968)	Kugler, 1974
Clausicella suturata Rondani, 1859	Kugler, 1979
Clausicella triangulifera Mesnil	Kugler, 1979
Echinomyia elegans Villeneuve	Kugler, 1979
Echinomyia fera Linnaeus	Kugler, 1979
Echinomyia lurida Fabricius, 1781	Kugler, 1968
Echinomyia praeceps Meigen, 1824	Kugler, 1979	Bet Dagan
Erebiomima hertingi Kugler	Kugler, 1968
Erebiomima luteisquama Mesnil	Kugler, 1979
Ernestia longiventris Kugler, 1971	Kugler, 1971
Eurithia castellana (Strobl, 1906)	Kugler, 1979
Fischeria bicolor Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830	Bodenheimer, 1937	Bet Dagan
Germaria hermonensis Kugler, 1979	Kugler, 1968
Germaria ruficeps (Fallén, 1820)	Kugler, 1979
Graphogaster parvipalpis Kugler, 1974	Kugler, 1968
Graphogaster vestita Rondani, 1868	Kugler, 1974
Heraultia albipennis Villeneuve, 1920	Kugler, 1968
Istoglossa puella Rondani	Kugler, 1979
Laufferiella elegans Villeneuve, 1929	Kugler, 1968
Linnaemyia angulicornis (Speiser)	Kugler, 1979
Linnaemya comta (Fallén, 1810)	Bodenheimer, 1937
Linnaemya frater (Rondani, 1859)	Kugler, 1968
Linnaemya latigena Kugler	Kugler, 1968
Linnaemya lithosiophaga (Rondani 1859)	Kugler, 1968
Linnaemya neavei Curran, 1934	Kugler, 1968	Bet Dagan
Linnaemya petiolata Kugler, 1971	Kugler, 1971
Linnaemya setifrons Zimin, 1954	Kugler, 1961 Kugler, 1968	Bet Dagan
Linnaemya soror Zimin, 1954	Kugler, 1974
Linnaemya vulpina (Fallén, 1810)	Bodenheimer, 1937 Kugler, 1974	Bet Dagan
Macquartia praefica (Meigen, 1824)	Bodenheimer, 1937	Bet Dagan
Macquartia tenebricosa (Meigen, 1824)	Kugler, 1979
Macquartia tessellum (Meigen, 1824)	Kugler, 1974
Mesnilomyia achilleae Kugler, 1972	Kugler, 1972
Mesnilomyia longicornis Kugler, 1972	Kugler, 1972
Mesnilomyia magnifica Kugler, 1972	Kugler, 1972
Microceraphina planifacies Kugler	Kugler, 1972
Mintho compressa (Fabricius, 1787)	Bodenheimer, 1937	Bet Dagan
Mintho rufiventris (Fallen, 1816)	Kugler, 1974
Minthodes pictipennis Brauer & Bergstamm, 1889	Kugler, 1979
Neaera atra Robineau-Desvoidy, 1850	Kugler, 1974
Neaera laticornis (Meigen, 1824)	Kugler, 1972
Neoemdenia mirabilis Mesnil	Kugler, 1979
Oestroloewia crassipes Mesnil	Kugler, 1979
Palmonia hermonensis Kugler, 1972	Kugler, 1972 Kugler, 1979
Peleteria abdominalis Robineau-Desvoidy 1830	Bodenheimer, 1937
Peleteria meridionalis (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830)	Kugler, 1979
Peleteria pyrrhogaster (Rondani)	Kugler, 1979
Peleteria rubescens (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830)	Kugler, 1974
Peleteria ruficornis (Macquart, 1835)	Kugler, 1979
Peribaea palaestina Villeneuve, 1934	Bodenheimer, 1937
Peribaea tibialis (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1851)	Kugler, 1979
Plesina claripennis Mesnil, 1953	Kugler, 1979
Plesina deserticola Kugler, 1978	Kugler, 1979
Phytomyptera lacteipennis Villeneuve, 1934	Kugler, 1979
Phytomyptera nitidiventris Rondani, 1845	Kugler, 1979
Prodemoticus moderatus Kugler, 1979	Kugler, 1979
Prodemoticus orientalis Villeneuve, 1919	Kugler, 1979
Pseudomintho ater Kugler, 1971	Kugler, 1971 Kugler, 1979
Pseudomintho diversipes (Strobl, 1899)	Kugler, 1974
Siphona efflatouni Mesnil, 1960	Kugler, 1979
Siphona maculata (Staeger, 1849)	Kugler, 1979
Strobliomyia tibialis Robineau-Desvoidy	Kugler, 1961
Tachina fera (Linnaeus, 1761)	Kugler, 1979
Tachina magnicornis (Zetterstedt, 1844)	Bodenheimer, 1937 Kugler, 1979	Bet Dagan
Tachina vernalis (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830)	Kugler, 1974
Trichactia pictiventris (Zettersted, 1853)	Kugler, 1974
Triarthria setipennis (Fallén, 1810)	Kugler, 1974
Ziminia masiceraeformis (Portschinsky, 1881)	Kugler, 1974

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