Sonoma Mountain Ecology Notes

Celebrating and Caring for the Land

Golden Dung Fly

Scathophaga stercoraria is one of the most recognizable flies throughout the northern hemisphere. While they are drawn to the feces of many large animals, they really enjoy a good cow-pie. The males seek out some fresh droppings and wait for females to show up, there’s a lot of tussling and competition and eventually fertilized eggs are laid. The larvae hatch after a couple days and burrow into their new food source, they quickly grow and head down into the soil to pupate and emerge as adults and start the cycle over again.

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