Stomorhina lunata
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
Stomorhina lunata is a species of fly in the family Rhiniidae first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1805. This species is present in most of Europe, the Afrotropical realm, the eastern Palearctic realm, the Near East and North Africa, the Indomalayan realm, and the Nearctic realm. These flies usually inhabit meadows.
Stomorhina lunata can reach a length of 5–9 millimetres (0.20–0.35 in) and a wingspan of 13–16 millimetres (0.51–0.63 in). These distinctive, medium-sized blowflies are rather similar to the house flies, but they have a characteristic prominent proboscis, a longitudinally striped thorax and an abdomen with yellow and black bands. Males have large orange patches on the sides of tergites 3 and 4, while females only show grey dust patches.
This distinctively marked species is often misidentified because of the unusual band pattern in the abdomen, typical of hoverflies. Stomorhina lunata is an important egg predator of some major African agricultural pests, the South African brown locust (Locustana pardalina), the more widespread desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria), and the migratory locust (Locustana... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 5 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 6 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Locust Blowfly sighting in Brussels on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 200th most-seen of the 337 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August to October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Locust Blowfly in Brussels on a given day, against under 5% in November to July, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Locust Blowfly sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 13 cities where we can rate Locust Blowfly sightings, Brussels ranks 4th at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Barcelona (Spain, about 10%), Lyon (France, about 10%) and Cologne (Germany, about 10%).
Same order: Diptera
The closest relatives of the Locust Blowfly that you can see in Brussels (order Diptera, Flies) are Marmalade Hover Fly (about 20%), Common Drone Fly (about 20%) and Yellow-Haired Sun Fly (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Locust Blowfly is recorded against all the insects logged in Brussels (9 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
