''Eristalis nemorum'' is a species of

hoverfly Hoverflies, also called flower flies or syrphids, make up the insect family Syrphidae. As their common name suggests, they are often seen hovering or nectaring at flowers; the adults of many species feed mainly on nectar and pollen, while the l ...

. It is found in the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

(Fennoscandia South to Iberia, the Balkans and Italy, Ireland eastwards through Central Europe into Turkey and Russia and on into the Russian Far East, Siberia and Japan) and in the

Nearctic The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America ...

(Quebec south to Colorado).

Technical description

External images
For terms, see:

Morphology of Diptera Dipteran morphology differs in some significant ways from the broader insect morphology, morphology of insects. The Diptera is a very large and diverse Order (biology), order of mostly small to medium-sized insects. They have prominent compound ey ...

. Wing length: . All tarsi are extensively black. Body-hairs are short. Arista plumose basal half. Densely dusted face has a black shining stripe. Hind femora are black in male. Wings are hyaline with quadrate brownish pterostigma (basal to merge of vein ''sc'' with costa). Body is yellow-haired. Hind metatarsi are darkened. The male genitalia are figured by Hippa et al. (2001). The larva is figured by Hartley (1961).

Biology

The

larvae A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect developmental biology, development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typical ...

are aquatic, and of the

Rat-tailed maggot Rat-tailed maggots are the larvae of certain species of hoverflies belonging to the tribes Eristalini and Sericomyiini. A characteristic feature of rat-tailed maggots is a tube-like, telescoping breathing siphon located at their posterior end. ...

type. Adults are often seen visiting flowers. Flight period in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

is from April to October, peaking around July and August. The males show a characteristic courtship display, hovering above a foraging female for minutes. When many males are present two or more males may hover above one female. Adult habitat is streamsides, fen meadow and poorly-drained pasture. Flowers visited include yellow composites, umbellifers, ''Cakile'', ''Calluna vulgaris'', ''Caltha'', ''Cardamine'', ''Cirsium'', ''Crataegus'', ''Eupatorium'', ''Euphorbia'', ''Filipendula'', ''Malus'', ''Menyanthes'', ''Mentha'', ''Parnassia'', ''Prunus'', ''Ranunculus'', ''Rubus fruticosus'', ''Salix'', ''Sorbus'', ''Succisa''.de Buck, N. (1990). "Bloembezoek en bestuivingsecologie van Zweefvliegen (Diptera, Syrphidae) in het bijzonder voor België". ''Doc.Trav.'' IRSNB, no. 60, pp. 1–167.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eristalis nemorum Eristalini Diptera of Asia Diptera of Europe Diptera of North America Flies described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus