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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » Calyptratae » Muscoidea » Dung Flies (Scathophagidae)

Family Scathophagidae - Dung Flies

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Numbers · Size · Identification · Habitat · See Also · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited
These were mating on fresh cow droppings on October 24, 2004. - Scathophaga stercoraria Tachinid or Sarcophagid fly ?? - Scathophaga Is this another Dung fly. - Scathophaga Dung Fly portrait - Scathophaga - male Fly Golden Dung Fly - Scathophaga stercoraria Could this be Lauxaniidae? - Scathophaga fly
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon (Calyptratae)
Superfamily Muscoidea
Family Scathophagidae (Dung Flies)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Apparently it was Scatophagidae at one point, but according to NAL Agricultural Thesaurus, Scathophagidae is preferred.
Numbers
140 species in North America (probably many more).
Size
4-13 mm.
Identification
Bare ventral surface of scutellum. Costa usually without spinules.
Wing venation of Scathophagidae.
Habitat
Some larvae live in dung, others are leaf miners, stem-borers or feed in seed capsules, still others are aquatic predators and predators on other insect larvae in wet situations .
See Also
Sun flies - Heleomyzidae, especially Suilla, may look superficially similar
Print References
Arnett (1)
Internet References
Wikipedia--Scathophagidae
Works Cited
1.American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico
By Ross H. Arnett
Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Beatriz Moisset
Last updated 22 October, 2008 - 8:06am

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