Soldierflies, Stratiomyidae

wapenvliegen, stratiomyidae

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Subpage flies: Tachinidae Blow-flies (Calliphoridae) House flies (Muscidae) Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae) Root-Maggot Flies (Anthomyiidae) Small flies Gnats

Nederlands / Dutch

Soldier flies (Stratiomyidae)

Family: Soldier flies (Stratiomyidae)

There are 45 species in the Netherlands. The flies have a preference for flowers of the family Apiaceae.

Characteristic: Wings with a small round discal cell. On the scutellum, there often are some spines. (So it gots its name "soldier fly") There are no bristles on the body. Like the hover flies the soldier flies resemble bees or wasps. Round discal cell: Very clear in the photo of the Black Colonel ( Odontomyia tigrina).

Subfamily Beridinae.

Larva of a Beris spec. Genus Beris. Subfamily Beridinae. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae). Photo 28-11-2016.

Beris chalybata. Genus Beris. Subfamily Beridinae. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae). Female

Beris chalybata. Genus Beris. Subfamily Beridinae. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae).
Dark, shiny green. The abdomen is black. The legs of the male are red brown and tan of the female. A characteristic of the genus Beris are the six spines on the scutellum. They have a slim body.
Length 3 -6 mm. April - July. Photos 22-5-2013, 30-4-2014.
Another similar member of the family is the Beris morrisii, but this fly flies later in the year.

Photo 6-5-2010. Beris chalybata male. The hind legs are thick. (near the feet)

Beris vallata. Genus Beris. Subfamily Beridinae. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae).
The thorax is black, the abdomen is orange. Similar to Beris clavipes. Length 5 - 6 mm.
May - September. Photos 17-6-2012.

Beris vallata. Male. Genus Beris. Subfamily Beridinae. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae).

If you look closely, you see the spines on the scutellum.
Next: Photo 1-7-2012 of a male Beris vallata (Similar to B. cavipes). The hind legs are thick. (near the feet)

Dull four-spined legionnaire (Chorisops tibialis). Subfamily Beridinae. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae).

Dull four-spined legionnaire (Chorisops tibialis). Male. Subfamily Beridinae. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae).
The thorax is shiny green. The legs are yellow and partly black. Length 5 to 6.5 mm.
In late June - early September. It looks like the in the Netherlands rare Chorisops nagatomii. Photos 8-7-2015.

Dull four-spined legionnaire (Chorisops tibialis). Female. Subfamily Beridinae. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae).

Chorisops tibialis, female. 17-8-2023

Subfamily Pachygastrinae.

Pachygaster atra. Genus Pachygaster. Subfamily Pachygastrinae. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae).
This small, black soldier fly. Length 2 - 4,5 mm. The first half of the wings of the Pachygaster atra is dark. That's a difference with some other species. The male has dark antennae. The female has light orange antennae.
In the Netherlands are three other similar species.
Pachygaster leachii: the wings don't have a dark part. Rare: Eupachygaster tarsalis has wings like the P. atra, but the scutellum has an other shape. Also rare: Neopachygaster meromelas.
Larva: Under the bark, in decaying wood and leaf waste.

Pachygaster atra. Female. Photo 3-7-2012.

Pachygaster leachii. Genus Pachygaster. Subfamily Pachygastrinae. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae).
The larvae live in decaying wood, decaying plant stems, in leaf litter.
This is a female, recognizable by the bright orange antennae. Length 3 - 3,5 mm. Photos 27-6-2010.

Subfamily Sarginae.

Broad Centurion Soldier Fly (Chloromyia formosa). male

Chloromyia formosa male Genus Chloromyia. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae).

gewone-wapenvlieg-vrouw-2-6.jpg (84727 bytes)

Chloromyia formosa female Genus Chloromyia. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae).

Broad Centurion Soldier Fly (Chloromyia formosa). Genus Chloromyia. Subfamily Sarginae. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae).

The male has shiny yellow gold abdomen. Females have a metallic blue green abdomen. The legs are black with yellow knees. Length 7- 9 mm. April - August.
The larvae live in damp soil, compost and leaf litter and they feed on decaying vegetable matter. Photos 6-6-2011, 26-6-2012.

Black-horned gem (Microchrysa polita) female

Black-horned gem (Microchrysa polita) female

Black-horned gem (Microchrysa polita) male

Black-horned gem (Microchrysa polita) male

Black-horned gem (Microchrysa polita). Genus Microchrysa. Subfamily Sarginae. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae).

The adult of this soldier fly is small and bright metallic green. The male has red eyes.
In the large photo the female has spread the wings. But mostly the wings are folded. March - September. Length 4,5 -5,5 mm
Larvae live in organic matter, compost heaps. The flies in our garden are also near the compost heap.

Twin-spot Centurion Soldier Fly (Sargus bipunctatus)

Twin-spot Centurion Soldier Fly (Sargus bipunctatus). Genus Sargus. Subfamily Sarginae. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae).
A long, slender soldier fly. It has two white spots on its face. The female has orange spots on segment 2. The fly has a yellow stripe on the side of the thorax. Length 10 - 13 mm.
The other Sargusspecies in the Netherlands are: Sargus cuprarius, Sargus flavipes, Sargus iridatus.
The larvae live in manure. In September I have these beautiful flies in the garden. Photos 18-10-2011, 26-9-2014,

female 7-10-2014. male 15-10-2014.

Iridescent centurion (Sargus iridatus). Genus Sargus. Subfamily Sarginae. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae).

Iridescent centurion (Sargus iridatus). Genus Sargus. Subfamily Sarginae. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae).
A long, slender soldier fly. The wings can be darkened slightly, but not as much as in the Sargus cuprarius. It can be recognized by the white hairs behind the head. Length 6 - 11 mm. April - October. Photos 8-7-2015.

Subfamily Stratiomyinae.

Black Colonel (Odontomyia tigrina). Genus Odontomyia. Subfamily Stratiomyinae. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae).
A shiny black fly with yellow on the underside of the abdomen and the legs. The female has sometimes also yellow spots on the side of the body. Those females looks like the female of the Odontomyia argentata.
They are often seen on plants near water. In our garden near the pond.
April - August. Length 7.5 to 11.5 mm. Photos 29-5-2010.

female, photo 19-5-2022.

Ornate Brigadier soldierfly (Odontomyia ornata). Genus Odontomyia. Subfamily Stratiomyinae. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae).
Scutellum with two spines. It has broad abdomen with yellow-orange spots on the side.
The larvae live in water. The fly in this photo it is next to the pond.
Odontomyia ornata resembles a Stratiomys, but the antennae are different. Stratiomys segment has an extended first antenna and the other segments bend slightly outwards. The first segment of a Odontomyia is not extended, only slightly longer than segment 2 and 3.
May - August. Length 12 - 17 mm. Photo 21-5-2011.

female, photo 17-6-2012.

Common Green Colonel (Oplodontha viridula). Genus Oplodontha. Subfamily Stratiomyinae. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae).

Common Green Colonel ( Oplodontha viridula). Genus Oplodontha. Subfamily Stratiomyinae. Family: Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae). In the dunes about 4 km from our house.
The edge of the abdomen is green, sometimes yellow, white. The center of the abdomen is black. Head, thorax and scutellum dark bronze. On the eye are dark spots. It looks like the average larger (8-12 mm) Odontomyia angulata and Odontomyia hydroleon.
June - August Length: 6-9 mm. Photos 26-6-2014.

   Three-lined soldier (Oxycera trilineata). Genus Oxyceraa. Subfamily Stratiomyinae. Family Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae). Photographed about 300 meter from our house.
A soldierfly with light green spots. But sometimes they (like the three-lined soldier on this photo) are yellow. The thorax is green (yellow) black striped (longitudinal stripes). The abdomen is green (yellow) striped, but they are transverse. A yellow scutellum. At the front of the head two wide green (yellow) stripes.
Common in stagnant water. May - August. Length: 5 - 7 mm. Photos 1-8-2013.

The flecked general (Stratiomys singularior). Genus Stratiomys. Subfamily Stratiomyinae. Family Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae)

Flecked general (Stratiomys singularior). Genus Stratiomys. Subfamily Stratiomyinae. Family Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae). Photographed about km. from our house.
A black, wide abdomen with pale yellow spots on the side. The scutellum is partly black and partly yellow, the thorax is black. The black antennas are long. The black face is white hairy. It looks like the Stratiomys Potamida and Stratiomys chamaeleon.
You often find them on plants of the Apiaceae.
The larvae live in water.
May - August Length: 11-17 mm. Europe, Asia. Photos 11-7-2014.

Stratiomys singularior in our garden on goldenrod. 18-8-2023.

Family Wood soldier flies, Xylomyidae.

The family Wood soldier flies (Xylomyidae) is closely related to the family Soldierflies (Stradiomyidae).
In the Netherlands are two species. The other is the very rare Xylomya maculata.

Solva marginata. Family: Wood soldier flies (Xylomyidae).
A shiny dark fly with yellow legs and yellow shield. Also on the side of the thorax are yellow stains. Thus he resembles some sawflies and parasitic wasps. The abdomen have narrow yellow bands. Part of the thorax is hairy.
The larvae live under the bark of trees. May - August. Length: 6 - 11 mm. Photos 6-7-2013.

A beautiful site with much information: The Garden Safari

Informatie about flies: www.diptera.info

All soldierflies of the Netherlands on the Dutch forum "Waarneming" information in Dutch and photos.

I want to thank everyone, who has helped me (waarneming.nl) to identify. In particular, Joke van Erkelens, Robert Heemskerk, Mark van Veen, Gerard Pennard and Han Endt.

Nederlands / Dutch

Subpage flies: Tachinidae Blow-flies (Calliphoridae) House flies (Muscidae) Soldierflies (Stratiomyidae) Root-Maggot Flies (Anthomyiidae) Small flies Gnats

Subpage wasps, bees, bumblebees: Parasitica, Ichneumonidae Sawflies symphyta Bumblebees Bee hotel

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