Diptera.info

Posted by Susan R Walter on 21-10-2006 17:22

I suspect this is a syrphid larva, but I don't have Rotherhay, so haven't been able to get much further with the ID. Collected today from an East London Cemetery Park. It was sheltering near the base of a Carex remota Remote Sedge, only a couple of feet from a pond. It measures 10mm at rest and about 13mm when stretched to full racing mode. I would be happy to rear it if someone could give me some advice on what to do (note that my record with hoverfly larva is dismal, so perhaps I had better release it:()

Posted by Susan R Walter on 23-10-2006 12:26

Many thanks Paul. There are several species of Platycheirus recorded for the site, so it seems perfectly likely that this larva is the progeny of one of them.

Posted by Susan R Walter on 25-10-2006 12:25

Robert and Paul - many thanks. Graham also thinks it is Platycheirus sp and has given me some tips for rearing it, so I will let you know what happens in due course.

Posted by Susan R Walter on 30-04-2007 13:02

I am pleased to report that the syrphid larva I picked up in Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, east London in October last year pupated in mid-February and hatched on 17 April - but not into a Platycheirus. I have identified it as a male Sphaerophoria scripta and attach photos. I'm afraid it hatched at a thoroughly inconvenient time and I had to pin it in a hurry, so I have not hinged out its genitalia because its wings seemed so clearly shorter than its abdomen. Now that it is pinned I am not so sure though. I have looked at the hairy genital lobes as best I can in their position tucked under the abdomen, and they do seem to be long, as for scripta, but I hope I haven't made a frustrating mistake.

Edited by Susan R Walter on 30-04-2007 13:03