In the laboratory the terrestrial tetanocerine fly Antichaeta testacea Melander completes its life cycle in 35 to 44 days. The female fly oviposits only on the egg clusters of its snail host. Instar I feeds only on snail eggs. Instars II and III also feed extensively on snail eggs besides attacking certain aquatic snails of the families Physidae and Lymnaeidae, but all instars are reluctant to attack adult terrestrial snails in the Succineidae. However, in southern California, because of their distribution, seasonal occurrence, and placement, the eggs of the succineid snails—mainly those of Oxyloma sillimani Bland—are considered to be the preferred hosts of ovipositing adults and first-instar larvae of Antichaeta testacea.
