Paragus Haemorrhous
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''Paragus haemorrhous'', the black-backed grass skimmer is a common widespread
species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
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 ...
found in many parts of
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
,
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
and 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 ...
. Hoverflies can remain nearly motionless in flight. The adults are also known as flower flies for they are commonly found on flowers from which they get both energy-giving nectar and protein-rich pollen. The larvae are predators on aphids.


Description

For terminology
Speight key to genera and glossary
br
external link to inaturalist images
;Size ;Head The face is yellow, moderately projecting, with a black median stripe in both sexes. The third antennal joint is sordid reddish below. The eyes are uniformly pilose." ;Thorax The scutellum entirely black. ;Abdomen Segment 1 is black and well-developed. Segment 2 is black or has a posterior margin that is red. Segments 3 through 5 are usually entirely red-orange to dark red in males. The superior lobe varies in shape and size, with an apex that is nearly truncate to strongly oblique, and with a length from one to two times that of the surstylus. ;Wings The wings are hyaline with a brownish grey stigma. ;Legs The legs are yellow and light brownish yellow. The basal half of the femora are black. The hind tibia is usually with apical half yellow-orange.
Females cannot be identified. See references for
determination Determination is a positive emotional feeling that promotes persevering towards a difficult goal in spite of obstacles. Determination occurs prior to goal attainment and serves to motivate behavior that will help achieve one's goal. Empirical ...
.


Distribution

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 __NOTOC__ Fennoscandia (Finnish language, Finnish, Swedish language, Swedish and ; ), or the Fennoscandian Peninsula, is a peninsula in Europe which includes the Scandinavian Peninsula, Scandinavian and Kola Peninsula, Kola peninsulas, mainland ...
south to
Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...
and the Mediterranean basin, Israel and Turkey, Ireland eastward through Central Europe and Southern Europe (Italy, the former Yugoslavia) into European Russia.
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 ...
: from the Yukon south to Costa Rica also in parts of the Afrotropical region.


Biology

Habitat: Unimproved grassland, heathland, garrigue, dune grassland, open areas and pathsides in forest up to the ''Larix''/''Pinus uncinata'' zone, fen meadow. Flowers visited include umbellifers, ''
Calluna ''Calluna vulgaris'', common heather, ling, or simply heather, is the sole species in the genus ''Calluna'' in the flowering plant family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing evergreen shrub growing to tall, or rarely to and taller, and is found wide ...
'', ''
Jasione montana ''Jasione montana'' is a low-growing plant in the family Campanulaceae found in rocky places and upland regions of Europe and western Asia. Common names include sheep's-bit, blue bonnets, blue buttons, blue daisy and iron flower. Due to the sim ...
'', ''
Matricaria ''Matricaria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the chamomile tribe within the sunflower family. Some of the species have the common name of "mayweed", but this name also refers to plants not in this genus. Description Their many-branched ...
'', ''
Origanum ''Origanum'' ( ) is a genus of herbaceous perennial flowering plants and subshrubs in the family Lamiaceae. They are native to Europe, North Africa, and much of temperate Asia, where they are found in open or mountainous habitats. A few species ...
'', ''
Polygonum ''Polygonum'' is a genus of about 130 species of flowering plants in the buckwheat and knotweed family Polygonaceae. Common names include knotweed and knotgrass (though the common names may refer more broadly to plants from Polygonaceae). In the ...
'', ''
Potentilla ''Potentilla'' is a genus containing over 500 species of Annual plant, annual, Biennial plant, biennial and Perennial plant, perennial herbaceous plant, herbaceous flowering plants in the rose family (biology), family, Rosaceae. Potentillas m ...
'', ''
Solidago ''Solidago'', commonly called goldenrods, is a genus of about 100 to 120''Solidago''.
F ...
'', ''
Stellaria ''Stellaria'' is a genus of about 190 species of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, with a cosmopolitan distribution. Common names include starwort, stitchwort and chickweed. Description ''Stellaria'' species are relatively small ...
''. It flies May to September. The larva feeds on
aphid Aphids are small sap-sucking insects in the Taxonomic rank, family Aphididae. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary widely in color. The group includes the fluffy white Eriosomatinae, woolly ...
s on low herbaceous plants.


Molecular genetics

As "based on both morphological and molecular evidence", ''Paragus haemorrhous'' Meigen 1822, ''Paragus coadunatus'' (Rondani, 1847) and ''Paragus ascoensis'' Goeldlin de Tiefenau & Lucas, 1981 appear to be synonyms of ''
Paragus tibialis ''Paragus tibialis'', is a species of hoverfly found in many parts of Europe and North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted s ...
'' (Fallén, 1817)". Rojo et al. (2006).Rojo, S., Ståhls, G., Pérez-Bañon, C. & Marcos-García, M.-Á. (2006) Testing molecular barcodes:invariant mitochondrial DNA sequences vs the larval and adult morphology of West Palaearctic ''Pandasyophthalmus'' species (Diptera: Syrphidae: Paragini). ''Eur.J.Entomol.'', 103: 443-458.


References


External links


External images
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2746286 Diptera of Europe Diptera of Africa Syrphinae Insects described in 1822 Taxa named by Johann Wilhelm Meigen Diptera of North America Hoverflies of North America