Exaireta spinigera
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Exaireta spinigera commonly known as the garden soldier fly or blue soldier fly. The species is a part of the Stratiomyidae family. The originally described holotype of the species was kept in the Berlin Museum and was discovered when Australia was still referred to as New Holland. The original taxonomic description of the species requires translation from German using the Fraktur alphabet.
Exaireta spinigera has an elongated abdomen with four yellow-tipped spikes that protrude from the scutellum, found near the thorax. It is black with violet undertones and shaded wings. The abdomen is also characterized by a metallic shine like other members of the Stratiomyidae family. Exaireta spinigera also sports typical Stratiomyidae antennae which are composed of three distinctive segments.
The length of the fly has been recorded between 14mm and 16mm. Historically it was noted the males were 9-10mm long with a 7-8mm wing length and females 13-15mm with an 11-12mm wing length. Both the larvae and fly form of Exaireta spinigera have a flattened-shaped body, which is also typical of the Stratiomyidae family but no other sources could be found describing the morphology of the... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lamington National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Royal National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Springbrook National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Blue Mountains National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Great Otway National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 6 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Garden Soldier Fly sighting in Perth on a given day, based on 20 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 107th most-seen of the 275 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April–July and October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Garden Soldier Fly in Perth on a given day, against under 5% in August–September and November–March, the lowest months. Those are among Perth's wettest months, with about 80 mm of rain a month against 10 mm in December.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Garden Soldier Fly sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
6th of 8
Of the 8 cities where we can rate Garden Soldier Fly sightings, Perth ranks 6th at about 10%. The best odds are in Auckland (New Zealand, about 20%), Melbourne (Australia, about 10%) and Sydney (Australia, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Garden Soldier Fly is recorded against all the insects logged in Perth (20 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.
