Bug FAQNoon Fly
Mesembrina meridiana · Order: Diptera · Family: Muscidae
The Noon Fly is a medium-large fly about 9 to 13 mm long with a shiny black body covered in black hair and distinctive orange markings on the wing bases, feet and face. Adults appear from late April to late October, especially in cattle-rearing areas where they rest on cow dung or warm ground, and they mate in dung pats. They feed on flower nectar and pollen, especially from Apiaceae, while their carnivorous larvae develop in dung, eating other fly larvae.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The fly has a stout, shiny black thorax and abdomen covered with uniform black hair; its eyes are bare, cheeks have fine yellow hairs, and the arista is yellow with orange at the wing bases, feet and face.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults measure between 9 and 13 mm in length (about 0.35 to 0.51 in).
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They are most often seen from late April to late October on cow dung or basking on open ground in cattle-rearing areas. Mating takes place in cow or horse dung.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adults feed on nectar and pollen of flowers, especially those of Apiaceae such as Heracleum and Pastinaca, and also on overripe berries. Larvae are carnivorous, preying on other fly larvae within dung.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The species is ovoviviparous; eggs hatch within an hour of being laid. A female lays up to five eggs in her lifetime, depositing one egg in a different dung pat every two days.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults are present from late April through late October.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
The species is common throughout most of Europe, the Near East, the eastern Palearctic (including Russia, Mongolia and China), and North Africa.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It can be confused with the similar species Mesembrina resplendens and Mesembrina intermedia.
Source: Wikipedia
More photos
Questions people ask
Where are Noon Flies found?
They occur across most of Europe, the Near East, the eastern Palearctic region and North Africa.
Source: Wikipedia
What do Noon Flies look like?
They are medium-large flies with a shiny black, hairy body, bare eyes, yellow-tinged cheeks, and orange markings on the wing bases, feet and face.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Muscidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesembrina_meridiana
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.