Cuckoo-fly. World English Historical Dictionary

Cuckoo-fly. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1893, rev. 2025. Cuckoo-fly

A name given to various species of hymenopterous insects belonging to the Ichneumonidæ and Chrysididæ, which deposit their eggs in the larvæ or the nests of other insects.

1

1865.  J. G. Wood, Homes without H., xxv. 481. Then there are the CUCKOO FLIES (Tachinæ),… which are parasitic, feeding on the larvæ of other insects.

2

1889.  Eleanor A. Ormerod, Injur. Insects (1890), 126. Hop Cuckoo Fly is sometimes very troublesome in Hop-gardens.

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