#3758 · 🪰 flies & mosquitoes
Golden Dung Fly
🇳🇱 Strontvlieg ·Scathophaga stercoraria
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Nikolai Vladimirov · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 2. © Thilina Hettiarachchi · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 3. © Nash Turley · CC BY 4.0
- 4. © Russell Pfau · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © Nikolai Vladimirov · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. © Sarah Gregg · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 7. © Marcello Consolo · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 8. © cello caruso-turiello · CC BY 4.0
- 9. © Ian Ballam · CC BY 4.0
- 10. © Cédric Fayemendy · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
what is it?
Scathophaga stercoraria , commonly known as the yellow dung fly or the golden dung fly , is one of the most familiar and abundant flies in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere. As its common name suggests, it is often found on the feces of large mammals, such as horses, cattle, sheep, deer, and wild boar, where it goes to breed. The distribution of S. stercoraria is likely influenced by human agriculture, especially in Northern Europe and North...
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 725 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #7 most seen of the flies & mosquitoes in NL.
- 29,573 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Golden Dung Fly
- Nederlands
- Strontvlieg
- scientific name
- Scathophaga stercoraria
- class
- Insecta
- order
- Diptera
- family
- Scathophagidae
- sightings in NL
- 725
- sightings in Europe
- 10,624
- sightings worldwide
- 29,573
- GBIF records in NL
- 21,884
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1758
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 132718, Wikidata Q28120, GBIF 1556243, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.