Hermetia illucens
(Linnaeus, 1758) · speciesAt a glance
Sources11 archives
Databases and archives Hermetia illucens's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation16 languages↗
Animal Diversity WebUniv. of Michigan MZspecies account↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility26 681 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI2 255 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics1 928 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
Tree of SexTree of Sex Consortiumgenome & karyotype↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Hermetia illucens, the black soldier fly, is a common and widespread fly of the family Stratiomyidae.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
No structured trait data for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Hermetia illucens has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
The complete instruction manual Hermetia illucens carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
2n 144×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database · GoaT · Tree of Sex Database · TreeOfSex · invert
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type26 681 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions28 of 60 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| National Biodiversity Institute, Costa Ricalocation not on record | 903 |
| Cambridge, US | 262 |
| Cornell University Insect Collectionlocation not on record | 248 |
| Australian National Fish Collectionlocation not on record | 213 |
| Los Angeles, US | 184 |
| Tapachula, MX | 158 |
| Toronto, CA | 144 |
| Sydney, AU | 89 |
| KwaZulu-Natal Museumlocation not on record | 72 |
| Centre for Biodiversity Genomicslocation not on record | 64 |
| Auckland, NZ | 55 |
| US | 51 |
| University Park, US | 29 |
| Universidad del Magdalena (UniMagdalena)location not on record | 26 |
| Mangilao, GU | 22 |
| Corporación Centro de Investigación en Palma de Aceite - CENIPALMAlocation not on record | 17 |
| Albuquerque, US | 13 |
| Chiba, JP | 13 |
| Durban Natural Science Museumlocation not on record | 11 |
| OSUClocation not on record | 11 |
| Cape Town, ZA | 10 |
| The University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobagolocation not on record | 10 |
| Yamaguchi-shi, JP | 8 |
| National Museums of Kenyalocation not on record | 8 |
| US | 6 |
| San Nicolás de los Garza, MX | 6 |
| San Francisco, US | 6 |
| NSMKlocation not on record | 6 |
| University of Central Floridalocation not on record | 5 |
| Laboratoire Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, University Lyon 1location not on record | 5 |
| Sanda, JP | 5 |
| Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad, Costa Ricalocation not on record | 5 |
| Washington, US | 4 |
| Chicago, US | 4 |
| Philadelphia, US | 3 |
| Helsinki, FI | 3 |
| Natick, US | 3 |
| CIBIOlocation not on record | 3 |
| Natural History Museum of Utahlocation not on record | 3 |
| Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1location not on record | 3 |
| Tomioka, JP | 2 |
| KCMNlocation not on record | 2 |
| New Haven, US | 2 |
| Edmonton, CA | 2 |
| Itami Shi, JP | 2 |
| KNAMlocation not on record | 2 |
| Iwate Prefectural Museumlocation not on record | 2 |
| Bando, JP | 1 |
| Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciêncialocation not on record | 1 |
| UAclocation not on record | 1 |
| Gujarat Biodiversity Gene Banklocation not on record | 1 |
| Puerto Ayora, EC | 1 |
| University of Oklahoma, Biological Stationlocation not on record | 1 |
| Essig Museum of Entomologylocation not on record | 1 |
| WIlocation not on record | 1 |
| Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria - AGROSAVIAlocation not on record | 1 |
| Cleveland Museum of Natural History, OH (CLEV)location not on record | 1 |
| DPIlocation not on record | 1 |
| Essig Museum of Entomologylocation not on record | 1 |
| CUlocation not on record | 1 |
Where the DNA of Hermetia illucens was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Measured at samplingin-field
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.