Feeding
The adults mainly prey on smaller insects — mostly other Diptera. They can also consume nectar and dung as additional sources of energy. In a laboratory setting, adult S. stercoraria can live off of solely Drosophila and water. Females spend most of their time foraging in the surrounding vegetation and only visit dung pats to mate and oviposit on the dung surface. Both males and females are attracted to dung by scent, and approach dung pats against the wind. Males will spend most of their time on the cow pats, waiting for females and feeding on other insects that visit the dung, such as blow-flies. In the absence of other prey, the yellow dung fly will turn to cannibalism. The “S. stercoraria” larva are coprophagous, relying on the dung pat for nutrition.
Read more about this topic: Scathophaga Stercoraria
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