Oplodontha viridula

Oplodontha viridula, the common green colonel, is a European species of soldier fly. [1]

Oplodontha viridula
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Diptera
Family:
Stratiomyidae
Subfamily:
Stratiomyinae
Tribe:
Stratiomyini
Genus:
Oplodontha
Species:
O. viridula
Binomial name
Oplodontha viridula
(Fabricius, 1775)
Synonyms
  • Musca microleon Harris, 1776
  • Oplodontha hydrodromia (Walker, 1851)
  • Oplodontha microleon (Harris, 1776)
  • Oplodontha subvittata (Meigen, 1822)
  • Stratiomys hydrodromia Walker, 1851
  • Stratiomys subvittata Meigen, 1822
  • Stratiomys viridula Fabricius, 1775

Description

Body length 6–8 mm. Purple eyes in life with bands and spots. Thorax brilliant black, coarsely punctured and with short dull yellow pubescence. Scutellum entirely black with two yellow spines. Yellowish legs (female). Abdomen whitish, yellow or leaf green with all intermediate ranges; black longitudinal dorsal median band also variable in shape and extent than the background pastel color. The larva is light or dark brownish with different longitudinal stripes or markings: on the dorsal side it has short, depressed hairs, on the ventral side the middle space of the segments have somewhat longish hairs. The length is 16 mm.[2][3][4][5]

  • flower feeding
  • dorsal view
  • head

Biology

The habitat is wetland biotope, such as marshes, meadows with locks, salt marshes and river valleys- in humid places, on herbs, Phragmites, Cnicus Adults are found from the end of April to the beginning of October. Adults feed on pollen and nectar of Achillea millefolium ........

Distribution

Throughout the Palearctic.

See also

References
  1. Stubbs, A. & Drake, M. (2001). British Soldierflies and Their Allies: A Field Guide to the Larger British Brachycera. British Entomological & Natural History Society. pp. 512 pp. ISBN 1-899935-04-5.
  2. Seguy. E. Faune de France Faune n° 13 1926. Diptères Brachycères.308 p., 685 fig.
  3. George Henry VerrallStratiomyidae and succeeding families of the Diptera Brachycera of Great Britain- British flies (1909)BHL Full text with illustrations
  4. E. P. Narchuk in Bei-Bienko, G. Ya, 1988 Keys to the insects of the European Part of the USSR Volume 5 (Diptera) Part 2 English edition. Keys to Palaearctic species but now needs revision.
  5. William Lundbeck Diptera Danica. Genera and species of flies Hitherto found in Denmark. Copenhagen & London, 1902-1927. 7 vols This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.


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