Alderfly
Sialis lutaria (Linnaeus, 1758)
Status not recordedinsects
The alderfly (Sialis lutaria) is a species in the family Sialidae, order Megaloptera.
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Quick facts about the alderfly
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the alderfly live?
Not recorded
Is the alderfly endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the alderfly classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classInsecta
- orderMegaloptera
- familySialidae
- genusSialis
- SpeciesSialis lutaria (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Hemerobius aquaticus, Hemerobius lutarius, Perla lutaria, Semblis lutaria, Sialis excelsior, Sialis nigra, Silalis flavilaterata
Other names and names in other languages (21)
- Common alderflyEnglish
- Common European alderflyEnglish
- střechatka obecnáCzech
- Almindelig dovenflueDanish
- See-SchlammfliegeGerman
- harilik loidtiibEstonian
- sorsankaislakorentoFinnish
- Sialis de la vaseFrench
- Paprastasis kabasparnisLithuanian
- gjørmemudderflueNorwegian Bokmål
- ElzenvliegDutch
- Żylenica nadwodnaPolish
- Вислокрылка тёмно-бураяRussian
- vodnárka močiarnaSlovak
- jezerska blatnicaSlovenian
- allmän sävsländaSwedish
- Вислокрилка звичайнаUkrainian
- Gemeine SchlammfliegeGerman
- Gewone slijkvliegDutch
- SlijkvliegDutch
- Вислокрылка обыкновеннаяRussian
Relatives of the alderfly
Other species in the same genus Sialis.
CompareAlderfly vs Scarce alderflyAlderfly vs Sialis abchasicaAlderfly vs Sialis aequalisAlderfly vs Sialis annae
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
What kind of animal is the alderfly?
The alderfly (Sialis lutaria) belongs to the family Sialidae in the order Megaloptera.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.
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Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AnimalTraits: a curated animal trait database for body mass, metabolic rate and brain size · CC0 1.0 · 1.0.7
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Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Environment Agency freshwater fish surveys (National Fish Populations Database) · OGL v3.0 · 2026-11-14
Environment Agency. Freshwater fish surveys (NFPD). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right. https://environment.data.gov.uk/ecology/explorer/ - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI): interpreted data products · CC0 1.0 · 0.11
Poelen, J.H., Simons, J.D. & Mungall, C.J. (2014) Global Biotic Interactions: an open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics 24: 148–159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2014.08.005. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22691479, with each record's original reference. - Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS) · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-11-13
Pagad, S., Genovesi, P., Carnevali, L., Schigel, D. & McGeoch, M.A. (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data 5: 170202. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.202. Country checklists published through GBIF by the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group. - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - Palmer Archipelago penguin measurements (Palmer Station LTER) · CC0 1.0 · 0.1.0
Gorman, K.B., Williams, T.D. & Fraser, W.R. (2014) Ecological sexual dimorphism and environmental variability within a community of Antarctic penguins (genus Pygoscelis). PLoS ONE 9(3): e90081. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0090081. Data: Palmer Station Antarctica LTER, via Horst, A.M., Hill, A.P. & Gorman, K.B. (2020) palmerpenguins. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3960218 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
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CreatureData. (2026). Alderfly (Sialis lutaria). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/alderfly
“Alderfly (Sialis lutaria).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/alderfly.
@misc{alderfly_2026,
title = {Alderfly (Sialis lutaria)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/alderfly},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}