BLUE SOLDIER FLY
Family: Stratiomyidae
©artour_a
Shot in Guyana
The soldier flies (Stratiomyidae, sometimes misspelled as Stratiomyiidae. From Greek στρατιώτης - soldier; μυια - fly), are a family of flies (historically placed in the now-obsolete group Orthorrhapha). The family contains about 1,500 species in about 400 genera worldwide (I couldn’t find any as pretty as this one but it was photographed by artour_a in Guyana).
Adults are found near larval habitats. Larvae can be found in a diverse array of situations mostly in wetlands and damp places in soil, sod, under bark, and in animal excrement and decaying organic matter. They are diverse in size and shape, though they commonly are partly or wholly metallic green, or somewhat wasp-like mimics, marked with black and yellow or green and sometimes metallic. They are often rather inactive flies which typically rest with their wings placed one above the other over the abdomen.
Fact: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratiomyidae
Other posts:
Stalk-eyed Fly - pushing eye distance from the head to new limits (also video)
