About Ensina sonchi (Linnaeus, 1764)
Ensina sonchi is a species of fly in the gall fly family Tephritidae. This species occurs in the Palearctic region. Its head is light yellow. It has a greenish body covered with yellow fine hairs. The disc of the mesonotum is blackish, and the mesophragm is black. Its legs and halteres are dirty yellow. Its wings are vitreous or opaline. The abdomen is black: the posterior margins of the tergites are distinctly yellow, and the tergites bear black fine hairs. The sternites are rufous, and the macrochaetes are yellowish. The oviscapte is black, with rufous apex and sides, and covered in fine, yellowish villi. Body length ranges from 3 to 3.5 mm. The larvae of Ensina sonchi feed on the flower heads of various Asteraceae species, including Chondrilla juncea, Cirsium arvense, Cirsium vulgare, Hieracium umbellatum, Hypochaeris radicata, Sonchus arvensis, and Taraxacum officinale, among others. Its natural distribution extends from the United Kingdom and Scandinavia south to North Africa, and east to Japan. It has been introduced to Ethiopia, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Hawaii.
