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). 

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.

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) 

The thorax is black, the abdomen is orange and the wings are black. Similar to Beris clavipes. Length 5 - 6 mm.
May - September. Photos 17-6-2012.

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

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.

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.

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

Chloromyia formosa  female Genus Chloromyia. 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..
Chloromyia formosa  male:      female:   photos 6-6-2011  

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.

It has two white spots on its face. The female has orange spots on segment 2, the male has a yellow stripe on the side of the thorax.
Length 10 - 13 mm. 
The larvae live in manure.
In September I have these beautiful flies in the garden.

Photos 18-10-2011

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.

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