1 3
For the dung flies do not accumulate on
the dung merely for sunbathing: the purpose is
far more serious than that. They assemble
in pursuit of romance - the aroma calling
them in to a lovers' tryst. After brief
preliminaries, mating takes place and then
the female will lay her eggs in the dung
and the early stages (the larva or maggot)
will feed, consuming the dung with apparent
relish. And so the cowpat has been the dance
floor, the bedroom, the maternity ward, the
restaurant and the kindergarten.
You may well feel that dung is dung and, if
you should step in it, well, of course, it
is all much of a muchness, but if you were
to eat it you would soon discern the subtle
differences; from the smooth cowpat to the
coarse horse dung, through the rather strongly
flavoured badger, dog and fox, right down to
the rabbit, and for the delicate palate of
some of the smaller flies we have bird droppings.
The big furry golden dung fly, Scathophaga
sterceraria, will be found chiefly on cow
dung, but occasionally on deposits of other
mammals. Amongst these flies on cow pats
you will also find the much smaller black
flies that are loathe to take flight,
preferring to run into the surrounding grasses.
These are called Sphaerocerids , a large
family of some one hundred species. Many
Muscid-type flies will also be found,
including the very distinctive Mesembrina
meridiana, a large,shining,black fly with
orange bases to the wings. All three
British biting muscids, including the stable
fly, breed in dung.