Yellow dung fly
The yellow dung fly is a fluffy golden-yellow fly that you often see sitting on cow pats in fields. The males are bright gold with furry front legs, and the females are duller and a bit greener. It may sound yucky, but it helps break down dung in fields.
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Fun facts
Males wait on fresh cow pats for females and grab other flies that land there as snacks.
It finds dung by smell and flies toward it against the wind.
The mother lays her eggs on the little bumps on top of a cow pat, so they do not dry out or drown.
It lives only about one to two months.
Scientists study it a lot because it grows up quickly and is easy to watch.
Most asked questions about Yellow dung fly
?Is the yellow dung fly harmful?
No. It does not bite or sting and it helps break down dung in fields.
?What does a yellow dung fly eat?
Grown-ups hunt smaller flies and sometimes drink nectar. The larvae eat dung.
?Why do yellow dung flies sit on cow pats?
That is where they meet, lay eggs and catch other flies to eat.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Scathophaga stercoraria
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Scathophagidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Scathophagidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, North America
- Also known as
- Golden dung fly
Where the facts come from
- Scathophaga stercoraria (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Luc Viatour. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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