Garden soldier fly
Exaireta spinigera (Wiedemann)
Order: Diptera
Family: Stratiomyidae
Size range
- Body length about 14 mm
Distribution
- Introduced from Australia
Life History
- Seen in gardens and sometimes in houses
- Adults probably feed on nectar and pollen in flowers
- Larvae feed on decaying vegetation, often in compost heaps
- A similar species, American soldier fly, is common in northern New Zealand
