Opomyza florum, common name yellow cereal fly or grass fly, is a species of acalyptrate flies.

Opomyza florum
Female of Opomyza florum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Opomyzidae
Genus: Opomyza
Species:
O. florum
Binomial name
Opomyza florum
(Fabricius, 1794)
Female on leaves

Description and ecology edit

Opomyza florum can reach a length of 3.5–5 mm. These small flies are rusty-yellow coloured, with several dark setae on mesonotum and scutellum. Eyes are reddish. Wings are yellowish and transparent, with some smoky-brown spots. The larval main food plants are wild cereals, leguminous and cereal crops. Larvae are oligophagous stem borer, feeding on the stems of plants. They can be found in early spring while adults fly at the end of May–June until October. This species is an agricultural pest, damaging winter cereals such as wheat, barley and rye.

Distribution edit

This species occurs in all of Europe.

Habitat edit

It can be found in meadows and fields of cereal crops.

References edit

  • Drake, C.M. 1993. A review of the British Opomyzidae. British Journal of Entomology and Natural History 6: 159–176.
  • G. P. Vickerman - Distribution and abundance of adult Opomyza florum (Diptera: Opomyzidae) in cereal crops and grassland - Annals of Applied Biology, Volume 101, Issue 3, pages 441–447, December 1982

External links edit

  Media related to Opomyza florum at Wikimedia Commons