Silver Colonel - Odontomyia argentata

A mostly dark Odontomyia with small orange markings at the side margins of the tergites. Males are instantly recogniseable due to the silvery tergites (angle of view can affect how obvious these are). Females are more uniformly darkened and resemble broadly-built O. tigrina (which has entirely black tergites). However, the elongate first antennal segment (twice as long as segment 2) distinguishes this species from all other Odontomyia.

The favoured habitats are fen and marsh. Both sexes visit flowers like Hawthorn and Willow and males have been reported to hover in small groups with their silvery abdomens shimmering conspicuously.

Adults have an early flight period for a soldierfly - late April to early June.

In Britain, the larvae have been found in the shallow water of pools. Abroad they have also been reared from moss, flood debris and decaying wood.

This is a rare species with a scattering of sites across southern and eastern Britain often in calcareous districts.

Rare in Leicestershire and Rutland where there are only three records that we know of to April 2015.