Smoky-winged woodlouse fly
The smoky-winged woodlouse fly is a tiny black fly with hairy feelers and a shiny back. Its life is tied to woodlice, the little grey armoured crawlers you find under stones. The female has white spots on the tips of her wings.
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Fun facts
A female can lay about 190 to 240 eggs in only about 7 hours.
It takes up to 21 days for its young to turn into a pupa.
It flies from mid-May to October, in old forests and damp places near the shore.
It first lived in Europe and was carried to North America by people.
Most asked questions about Smoky-winged woodlouse fly
?What does the woodlouse fly do to woodlice?
Its young live off a woodlouse as parasites.
?How big is the smoky-winged woodlouse fly?
Tiny. It is only 3 to 5.5 millimetres long.
?Is the woodlouse fly dangerous to people?
No. It does not bite or sting people.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Melanophora roralis
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Calliphoridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Calliphoridae
- Lives on
- Europe, North America, South America
Where the facts come from
- Melanophora roralis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by iNaturalist user "treegrow" (Katja Schulz). CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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