''Syrphus ribesii'' is a very common

Holarctic The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. It corresponds to the floristic Boreal Kingdom. It includes both the Nearctic zoogeographical regi ...

species of

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 ...

. Its

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. Th ...

e feed on aphids. In common with many other species of hoverfly, males have the eyes meeting on the top of the head, whilst females have their eyes widely separated.

Description

Adults are very similar in appearance to '' Syrphus vitripennis'' and ''

Syrphus torvus ''Syrphus torvus'' is a common species of hoverfly found in the Holarctic. The adults feed on pollen and nectar, but the larvae feed on aphids. Description

''. Females are distinguished from the former by having entirely yellow femora, and from the latter by having no hairs present in their eyes. Males also have bare eyes, unlike ''S. torvus'', but are extremely similar to ''S. vitripennis'', differing only in having some black hairs present on the hind femur and in having the second basal cell of the wing entirely covered by

microtrichia Insect morphology is the study and description of the physical form of insects. The terminology used to describe insects is similar to that used for other arthropods due to their shared evolutionary history. Three physical features separate insec ...

. The male genitalia and the larva have been described. Frons is posterior to the lunulae, shiny black. Sternites have lateral and median black marks. Male femora 3 is black for basal 2/3. Femora 3 is yellow. Lateral margins of tergites are black except at the ends of the yellow bands.

Distribution

Palearctic 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-Si ...

: Fennoscandia south to Iberia and the Mediterranean basin, Ireland eastward through Europe into Turkey, European Russia and Afghanistan. Also ranges from Urals to Siberia and Russian Far East to the Pacific coast (Kuril Isles) and Japan.

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 ...

: Alaska southward to Central USA. Highly migratory.

: United States and Canada.

Biology

It is

synanthropic A synanthrope (from the Greek σύν ''syn'', "together with" + ἄνθρωπος ''anthropos'', "man") is a member of a species of wild animal or plant that lives near, and benefits from, an association with human beings and the somewhat artific ...

, occurring in farmland, orchards, horticultural land, suburban gardens and parks. Also in deciduous and coniferous forest. It flies March to mid-November. The larva feeds on

aphid Aphids are small sap-sucking insects and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary widely in color. The group includes the fluffy white woolly aphids. A ...

s on various herbaceous plants. Adults feed on nectar and pollen. Over much of Europe, there are two chromosome races of ''S. ribesii'', one with 2n = 8, the other with 2n = 10.Boyes, J.W., van Brink, J.M. & Boyes, B.C. (1971). "Chromosomes of Syrphinae (Diptera: Syrphidae)". ''Misc. Pub. Genet. Soc. Can.'' 1-158.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Syrphus Ribesii Syrphinae Syrphini Flies described in 1758 Diptera of Asia Muscomorph flies of Europe Diptera of North America Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus