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TranslateScathophaga stercoraria
Scathophaga stercoraria (Linnaeus, 1758) commonly known as “Yellow or Golden Dung fly”
Length: 6 to 9mm wingspan 10mm
Season: Late March to October
Male being a more vivid yellow, to a golden colour with a furry appearance. The female is more of a dull yellow, with less of a furry appearance.
The adult fly will be seen feeding on flowers for pollen, the flowers also attract other flying insects in the Diptera world (mainly small flies) for the fly to prey on.
Widespread and common throughout the UK and northern Europe.
Habitat: Pastures, meadows, woodlands and also where water is nearby.
The predatory larvae grow and feed on the animal faeces, mainly cow, sheep, deer and horse dung.
Males spend a lot of their time waiting on the dung for a female which has also been attracted by the fresh dungs scent. The male will also take the opportunity to feed on other visiting insects, attracted to the dung such as “Blow flies”. It is also known that Scathophaga stercoraria may turn to cannibalism, in the absence of other prey. Females spend most of their time hunting and foraging in vegetation, only visiting fresh dung pats to mate and oviposit on the dung surface.
Copulation can be between 20–50 minutes, the male attempts to guard the female after mating from other males. Both males and females often mate with multiple partners.
The female will try and lay her eggs on a sloping surface of the dung, so protecting her eggs from the direct sunlight; this also provides protection from rainfall which could form small puddles on more of a level or a depression in the surface; where the unhatched eggs could easily be vulnerable to drowning. Once hatched, (between 1 to 2 days) the predatory larvae will feed and develop inside the dung. Approximately from 10 to 21 days from hatching, (time is dependant on climate conditions) the larvae will burrow into the nearby soil to pupate. The adult fly’s life cycle is very short, covering approximately 20 days in total. This is counter-proceeded as the adult fly has multiple generations producing up to four or five generations within one year.
They are an easy meal for many bird and bat species and are preyed upon by other insect species. (being a very important food source for the Lesser Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros)
The Scathophaga are part of an essential role in the natural decomposition of dung in fields. Also, they have played a very important part in the scientific research world due to their short lifecycles.
Read MoreLength: 6 to 9mm wingspan 10mm
Season: Late March to October
Male being a more vivid yellow, to a golden colour with a furry appearance. The female is more of a dull yellow, with less of a furry appearance.
The adult fly will be seen feeding on flowers for pollen, the flowers also attract other flying insects in the Diptera world (mainly small flies) for the fly to prey on.
Widespread and common throughout the UK and northern Europe.
Habitat: Pastures, meadows, woodlands and also where water is nearby.
The predatory larvae grow and feed on the animal faeces, mainly cow, sheep, deer and horse dung.
Males spend a lot of their time waiting on the dung for a female which has also been attracted by the fresh dungs scent. The male will also take the opportunity to feed on other visiting insects, attracted to the dung such as “Blow flies”. It is also known that Scathophaga stercoraria may turn to cannibalism, in the absence of other prey. Females spend most of their time hunting and foraging in vegetation, only visiting fresh dung pats to mate and oviposit on the dung surface.
Copulation can be between 20–50 minutes, the male attempts to guard the female after mating from other males. Both males and females often mate with multiple partners.
The female will try and lay her eggs on a sloping surface of the dung, so protecting her eggs from the direct sunlight; this also provides protection from rainfall which could form small puddles on more of a level or a depression in the surface; where the unhatched eggs could easily be vulnerable to drowning. Once hatched, (between 1 to 2 days) the predatory larvae will feed and develop inside the dung. Approximately from 10 to 21 days from hatching, (time is dependant on climate conditions) the larvae will burrow into the nearby soil to pupate. The adult fly’s life cycle is very short, covering approximately 20 days in total. This is counter-proceeded as the adult fly has multiple generations producing up to four or five generations within one year.
They are an easy meal for many bird and bat species and are preyed upon by other insect species. (being a very important food source for the Lesser Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros)
The Scathophaga are part of an essential role in the natural decomposition of dung in fields. Also, they have played a very important part in the scientific research world due to their short lifecycles.
