Beris fuscipes, the short-horned black legionnaire, is a European species of soldier fly.
Description Head dark. Antennae short the antennal flagellum thickened basally, as wide as pedicel and narrowed sharply toward apex, almost trapezoidal. Thorax and scutellum bright shining green, not in the least blackish, Abdomen black, legs extensively dark dull orange or dusky. Scutellum with usually six (sometimes eight) spines. Epandrium with developed surstyli.George Henry VerrallStratiomyidae and succeeding families of the Diptera Brachycera of Great Britain- British flies (1909) BHL Full text with illustrations E. P. Narchuk in Bei-Bienko, G. Ya, 1988 Keys to the insects of the European Part of the USSR Volume 5 (Diptera) Part 2 English edition. Keys to Palaearctic species but now needs revision. Very similar to Beris geniculata.
Biology Beris fuscipes occurs in damp woodland, marshes and fens from May-September.
Distribution Most of Europe including European Russia. North America.
References