''Syrphus torvus'' is a common 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 ...

found in the

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 region ...

. The adults feed on pollen and nectar, but the

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. The ...

e feed on aphids.

Description

External images
For terms, see:

Morphology of Diptera Dipteran morphology differs in some significant ways from the broader morphology of insects. The Diptera is a very large and diverse order of mostly small to medium-sized insects. They have prominent compound eyes on a mobile head, and (at most) ...

.
Eyes have numerous hairs, in male, long and dense, in female shorter. Femora 3 is black on basal 3/4. The male genitalia and the larva are illustrated by Dusek and Laska (1964).
See references for

determination Determination is a positive emotional feeling that involves persevering towards a difficult goal in spite of obstacles.Kirby, L.D., Morrow, J., & Yih, J. (2014). The challenge of challenge: Pursuing determination as an emotion. In M. M. Tugade, ...

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-Sibe ...

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

Indomalaya 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 ...

Formosa, Northern India, Nepal, and Thailand.

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 t ...

: from Alaska southward to New Mexico. Migratory. Large numbers of hoverflies of this species and of '' Metasyrphus sp.'' have been observed on

Mount McKinley Denali (; also known as Mount McKinley, its former official name) is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of above sea level. With a topographic prominence of and a topographic isolation of , Denali is the thir ...

(Denali) in the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

at altitudes of at the head of the

Kahiltna Glacier Kahiltna Glacier is the longest glacier of the Alaska Range in the U.S. state of Alaska. It starts on the southwest slope of Denali near Kahiltna Pass (elevation ). Its main channel runs almost due south between Mount Foraker to the west and Mo ...

Biology

Habitat: ''Abies'', ''Picea'' and ''Pinus'' forest and ''Betula'', ''Fagus'', ''Quercus'' forest and dwarf-shrub tundra. 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 ...

in suburban gardens with mature trees and in urban parks. Flowers visited include umbellifers, ''Allium ursinum'', ''Aster'', ''Bellis perennis'', ''Brassica rapa'', ''Buxus'', ''Caltha'', ''Cirsium arvense'', ''Crataegus'', ''Euphorbia'', ''Frangula alnus'', ''Glaux maritima'', ''Hedera'', ''Hieracium'', ''Oxalis'', ''Prunus spinosa'', ''Ranunculus'', ''Rosa'', ''Rubus'', ''Salix'', ''Senecio jacobaea'', ''Sorbus'', ''Taraxacum'', ''Tussilago''.de Buck, N. (1990). "''Bloembezoek en bestuivingsecologie van Zweefvliegen (Diptera, Syrphidae) in het bijzonder voor België''". ''Doc. Trav.'' IRSNB, no. 60, 1-167. It flies March to October. The larva feeds on aphids on trees, bushes and shrubs. Adults feed on pollen and nectar and are particularly attracted to yellow and white flowers. The insect overwinters as larvae.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Syrphus Torvus Syrphinae Syrphini Insects described in 1875 Diptera of Asia