Oplodontha viridula explained

Oplodontha viridula, the common green colonel, is a European species of soldier fly.^{[1] [2] [3]}

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.^{[4] [5] [6] [7]}

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.

Notes and References

1. Book: Stubbs . Alan E . Drake . Martin . British Soldierflies and their allies (an illustrated guide to their identification and ecology) . 2014 . . Reading . 9781899935079 . 528 pp, 20 plates . 2.
2. Woodley . N.E. . A World Catalog of the Stratiomyidae (Diptera) . Myia . 2001 . 11 . 1–462. 7 December 2022.
3. Book: Zeegers . T. . Schulten . A. . Families of Flies with Three Pulvilli: Field Guide Northwest Europe . 2022 . Jeugdbondsuitgeverij . Graveland . 9789051070682 . 256pp.
4. Seguy. E. Faune de France Faune n° 13 1926. Diptères Brachycères.308 p., 685 fig.
5. [George Henry Verrall]
6. 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.
7. [William Lundbeck]