''Sepedon sphegea'' is a

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Si ...

species of

fly Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced m ...

in the family

Sciomyzidae The family Sciomyzidae belongs to the typical flies ( Brachycera) of the order Diptera. They are commonly called marsh flies, and in some cases snail-killing flies due to the food of their larvae. Here, the Huttoninidae, Phaeomyiidae and Tet ...

, the marsh flies or snail-killing flies. The larva feeds on aquatic snails and as an opportunist on other invertebrates.Neff S. E. & Berg C. O. 1966. Biology and immature stages of malacophagous diptera of the genus ''Sepedon'' (Sciomyzidae). ''Virginia Agricultural Experiment Stations Bulletin'', 566: 1-113. The habitat of this species includes among many others, pond margins and damp meadows. It has a particular fondness for ''

Iris pseudacorus ''Iris pseudacorus'', the yellow flag, yellow iris, or water flag, is a species of flowering plant in the family Iridaceae. It is native to Europe, western Asia and northwest Africa. Its specific epithet ''pseudacorus'' means "false acorus", r ...

'' which grow at the edges of the pond. Adults can be found all year long but the main flight period is from March to October. File:Sepedon sphegea - 2014-05-21.webm, thumbtime=1:51, ''Sepedon sphegea'' feeding on a larva of a dragonfly

References

External links

Ecology of Commanster
{{Taxonbar, from=Q14251265 Sciomyzidae Insects described in 1775 Articles containing video clips Diptera of Europe Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius