Stratiomyidae

Soldier flies
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous – Recent
Hermetia illucens
Odontomyia sp.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Suborder: Brachycera
Infraorder: Stratiomyomorpha
Superfamily: Stratiomyoidea
Family: Stratiomyidae
Latreille, 1802[1]
Subfamilies

The soldier flies (Stratiomyidae, sometimes misspelled as Stratiomyiidae, from Greek στρατιώτης - soldier; μυια - fly) are a family of flies (historically placed in the now-obsolete group Orthorrhapha). The family contains over 2,700 species in over 380 extant genera worldwide.[2][3] Larvae are found in a wide array of locations, mostly in wetlands, damp places in soil, sod, under bark, in animal excrement, and in decaying organic matter. Adults are found near larval habitats.[4] They are diverse in size and shape, though they commonly are partly or wholly metallic green, or somewhat wasplike mimics, marked with black and yellow or green and sometimes metallic. They are often rather inactive flies which typically rest with their wings placed one above the other over the abdomen.

The Stratiomyinae are a subfamily that tend to have an affinity to aquatic environments.[4]

  1. ^ Latreille, P.A. (1802). Histoire naturelle, generale et particuliere, des crustaces et des insectes. Tome troisieme. Paris: Dufart. pp. xii + 13-467 + 1 pp. [445].
  2. ^ "Stratiomyidae".
  3. ^ Woodley, N. E., 2001. A World Catalog of the Stratiomyidae (Insecta: Diptera). Myia 11: 1-473. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden
  4. ^ a b Woodley, Norman (February 2009). "Family Stratiomyidae". In Gerlach, J. (ed.). The Diptera of the Seychelles Islands. Sofia and Moscow: Pensoft Publishers. pp. 100–106. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016.