D. phalerata Meigen 1830

Last update: 17 August, 2002

Picture of Drosophila phalerata
(female with male abdomen) by
Hilary Burn

Widely distributed in European countries and very common in wooded areas. It seems to avoid open places and keeps away from man. Dyson-Hudson (1954) took 87% of all her specimens of D. phalerata in woodland of some kind. Mature deciduous and mixed woodland are the preferred habitats but it can also be taken in coniferous woodland and scrub. Its main breeding and feeding sites are thought to be toadstools although the flies select a wide range of fungi. For example, workers in Switzerland obtained 971 specimens from a total of 30 fungus species. Eggs and larvae can be found in healthy toadstools, and adults are obtained in large numbers by collecting fungi and rearing the larvae from them in the laboratory. Adults come to traps from April to September although, as might be expected of a fungus-feeder, there is a large increase in numbers in autumn when toadstools are numerous.

Prof. B. Shorrocks