Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Small Syrphid from our garden
Posted by Juergen Peters on 05-03-2007 20:06
#1
Hello!
This 10 mm long animal was the first Syrphid other than
Episyrphus balteatus and
Eristalis tenax (which are around since mid february) I have found this year (today in our house garden, Ostwestfalen/Germany). Unfortunately the orange markings are not visible very well. Can it nevertheless be determined? I thought of a
Melangyna (
cf. lasiopthalma?) male. Thanks for any hints!
Posted by Stephane Lebrun on 05-03-2007 20:59
#2
Hello,
difficult to say, because difficult to see, but it could also be Episyrphus (Meliscaeva) auricollis. The spots on tergite 2 seem slightly oblique and the hinds legs don't seem entirely black.
If I'm not wrong, it would be the var. maculicornis, a typical spring variety.
Regards.
Posted by Juergen Peters on 06-03-2007 00:58
#3
Hello, Stephane!
Stephane Lebrun wrote:
difficult to say, because difficult to see, but it could also be Episyrphus (Meliscaeva) auricollis. The spots on tergite 2 seem slightly oblique and the hinds legs don't seem entirely black.
If I'm not wrong, it would be the var. maculicornis, a typical spring variety.
Thanks! According to my records I found
M. auricollis mostly in late summer here. Unfortunately none of my current pics shows the hind legs more clearly, but the yellow could also be pollen.
Posted by LordV on 06-03-2007 22:38
#4
Looks Very similar to some I've seen in my garden in the last few weeks (South coast UK)
Brian V.
Edited by LordV on 06-03-2007 22:39
Posted by Andrew Whittington on 07-03-2007 23:28
#5
Fantastic photograph Brian .. you should enter it to the next Entomology photographic competition ... it has to be a prize winner!!!
:)