Scathophaga stercoraria
Encyclopedia
Scathophaga stercoraria, known as the common yellow dung fly or sometimes called the golden dung fly. It is one of the most familiar and abundant of flies
Fly
True flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...

 in many parts of the northern hemisphere
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...

. As its common name suggests, it is often found on mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...

 faeces
Feces
Feces, faeces, or fæces is a waste product from an animal's digestive tract expelled through the anus or cloaca during defecation.-Etymology:...

, most notably those of horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

s and cows.

Description

From 5 mm to 11 mm in length. The adult
Adult
An adult is a human being or living organism that is of relatively mature age, typically associated with sexual maturity and the attainment of reproductive age....

 males of Scathophaga stercoraria are bright golden-yellow with orange-yellow fur on the front legs. Females are a little duller in colour, with pronounced green-brown tinges, and lacking the bright coloured fur on the fore legs. It is a very variable species, and part of this may be climate driven.

Biology

The adults are mostly predators on smaller insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

s — mostly other Diptera
Fly
True flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...

, they will also feed on pollen, but most specimens seen on flowers will be hunting prey there. Both males and females are found on dung, the males only feeding on other insects that visit dung, such as blow-flies. Females will be there both to feed and oviposit on the dung surface,

Females prefer to lay their eggs on the small hills of the dung surface and avoid depressions and pointed parts of the dung. This ensures survival, as emergence is better by avoiding the drying on small points in the dung. Also by avoiding possible drowning by rain by not laying eggs in depressions of the dung surface. The female yellow dung-fly is capable of making these decisions about her egg placement, and thus increasing possibility of success of her future generations. The eggs hatch into predatory larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e and feed on insect larvae within the dung. After 21 days or more of feeding, dependent on conditions, the larvae burrow into the soil around and beneath the dung and then develop into pupae, before developing into adult flies.

Scathophaga stercoraria can produce four or five generations per season. The adults are active throughout much of the year in most moderate climates. In most cases both males and females will mate multiple times, as is very common in insects. Much has been studied about the competition between genders and what factors determine mating success, and what part that in turn may play on the competitive nature on the larvae.

Parasites and diseases

Sexually transmitted disease
Sexually transmitted disease
Sexually transmitted disease , also known as a sexually transmitted infection or venereal disease , is an illness that has a significant probability of transmission between humans by means of human sexual behavior, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex...

s of insects are known, particularly in Coleoptera and have also been studied in Scathophaga stercoraria. Many of these sexually transmitted diseases are from multicellular ectoparasites (mites), protist
Protist
Protists are a diverse group of eukaryotic microorganisms. Historically, protists were treated as the kingdom Protista, which includes mostly unicellular organisms that do not fit into the other kingdoms, but this group is contested in modern taxonomy...

s or the fungi Entomophthera muscae. These are frequently responsible for ether sterilising or killing the host fly.

Predators

Beside being an easy meal for a great many bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

 and bat species, they are also prayed upon by other insects. Among these are the Irish robberfly Machimus cowini and the dune robberfly Philonicus albiceps.

External links

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