#3935 · 🪰 flies & mosquitoes
Black Soldier Fly
🇳🇱 Zwarte soldatenvlieg ·Hermetia illucens
9 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Katja Schulz · CC BY 4.0
- 2. © Marcello Consolo · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 3. © Marcello Consolo · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 4. © Marcello Consolo · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 5. © Marcello Consolo · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 6. © Kyle Eaton · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 7. © tjeerd · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. © Marcello Consolo · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 9. © Tom Field · CC BY 4.0
what is it?
Hermetia illucens , the black soldier fly , is a common and widespread fly of the family Stratiomyidae. The larvae and adults are considered neither pests nor vectors. Instead, black soldier fly larvae play a similar role to that of redworms as essential decomposers in breaking down organic substrates and returning nutrients to the soil.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 13 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist.
- 42,610 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
- Not originally Dutch: it was introduced to the Netherlands.
fact sheet
- English
- Black Soldier Fly
- Nederlands
- Zwarte soldatenvlieg
- scientific name
- Hermetia illucens
- class
- Insecta
- order
- Diptera
- family
- Stratiomyidae
- in NL
- introduced
- sightings in NL
- 13
- sightings in Europe
- 5,119
- sightings worldwide
- 42,610
- GBIF records in NL
- 268
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1758
relatives· Stratiomyidae
#3768 📷 10Broad Centurion Fly
🇳🇱 Gewone prachtwapenvlieg
Chloromyia formosa
👀 455 in NL
#3816 📷 10Twin-Spot Centurion Fly
🇳🇱 Herfstmetaalwapenvlieg
Sargus bipunctatus
👀 111 in NL
#3853 📷 10Black Colonel
🇳🇱 Zwarte moeraswapenvlieg
Odontomyia tigrina
👀 62 in NL
#3880 📷 10Flecked General
🇳🇱 Gewone langsprietwapenvlieg
Stratiomys singularior
👀 42 in NL
#3884 📷 8Common Green Colonel
🇳🇱 Kleine moeraswapenvlieg
Oplodontha viridula
👀 40 in NL
#3902 📷 7Black-horned Gem Fly
🇳🇱 Groene glimwapenvlieg
Microchrysa polita
👀 35 in NL
#3926 📷 10Twin-spotted Major
🇳🇱 Zwart verfdrupje
Oxycera leonina
👀 29 in NL
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 82177, Wikidata Q285029, GBIF 1577153, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.