''Sphaerophoria scripta'', the long hoverfly, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

hoverfly Hover flies, also called flower flies or syrphid flies, 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 ...

belonging to the family Syrphidae.

Distribution

This species has a worldwide distribution. It can be found in most of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, in the eastern

Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

, in the

Near East The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...

, in the

Nearctic realm 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 t ...

, in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

and in the

Indomalayan realm The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia. Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Indi ...

Habitat

This species lives in thickets, gardens and meadows rich of flowering plants. Adults can pollinate flowering plants such as ''

Galeopsis angustifolia ''Galeopsis ladanum'' var. ''angustifolia'', the red hemp-nettle, is a European annual plant growing to 30 cm tall. It flowers between June and October on waste ground, railway tracks, and other stony places. It is classified as criticall ...

'' and''

Silene gallica ''Silene gallica'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by several common names, including common catchfly, small-flowered catchfly, and windmill pink. It is native to Eurasia and North Africa, but it can be found t ...

'', which ''S. scripta'' are the most effective pollinators of.

Description

Syrphidae - Sphaerophoria scripta (mating)

''Sphaerophoria scripta'' can reach a length of and a

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

of 5–7 mm. Body is long and narrow, with yellow and black bands. The wings are transparent. Antennae are short and yellow. The face is yellow. Thorax is a bit dull, copper colored with broad yellow side stripes. Scutellum is yellow. Abdomen is long and cylindrical with four wide, yellow transverse bands. The legs are yellow. Females are brighter than the males. In the males the last two bands are often blurred.

Biology

The adult hoverflies can be found from April to November. The larvae feed on aphids, while adult hoverflies feed on nectar and pollen of various species of ''

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

'', as well as on ''

Heracleum sphondylium ''Heracleum sphondylium'', commonly known as hogweed, common hogweed or cow parsnip, is a herbaceous perennial or biennial plant, in the umbelliferous family Apiaceae that includes fennel, cow parsley, ground elder and giant hogweed. It is nat ...

'', ''

Galeopsis tetrahit ''Galeopsis tetrahit'', the common hemp-nettle or brittlestem hempnettle, is a flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to Europe and northwestern Asia. It is a herbaceous annual plant growing to 1 m tall; it is a pioneer species and t ...

'', ''

Malva moschata ''Malva moschata'', the musk mallow or musk-mallow, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae, native to Europe and southwestern Asia, from Spain north to the British Isles and Poland, and east to southern Russia and Turkey.Flora Eu ...

'' and ''

Parnassia palustris ''Parnassia palustris'', the marsh grass of Parnassus, northern grass-of-Parnassus, or just grass-of-Parnassus, and bog star, is a flowering plant in the staff-vine family Celastraceae. It is the county flower of Cumberland in England, and appea ...

''.Commanster
/ref> These hoverflies can complete a full life cycle in as little as sixteen days (egg to egg-laying adult), and a maximum of nine generations may occur in a single year.S. Nengel, W. Dresche

DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.1991.288.10 This species is migratory and overwinter as larva.

Gallery

File:Sphaerophoria scripta - Eisenstadt.jpg, Male in flight File:Sphaerophoria.scripta.wing.detail.jpg, Detail of wings File:Sphaerophoria scripta - 2014-08-03.webm, thumbtime=2:15, ''Sphaerophoria scripta'' in copula

References

Brachyceran flies of Europe Syrphini Flies described in 1758 Articles containing video clips Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Syrphidae-stub