External images
For terms, see:
Morphology of Diptera. Face has two large, silver-grey dust spots. Wing: Tibia 2 is in-bent 1/3 from apex and with only short lateral hairs. Tergite 4 is elongate.
Palearctic: Fennoscandia south to Iberia and the Mediterranean basin from Ireland eastward through Northern Europe, Central Europe and Southern Europe into Turkey and European Russia and through Siberia to the Pacific coast and Japan.
Nearctic: Alaska south to Colorado. But see Speight (2011).[8][9][10][11]
Biology
The
larvae feed on
aphids on low-growing plants and trees. Adults feed on a wide range of flowers. They have multiple broods throughout the warmer months and have a very long flight period.[2] They may stay active during cold weather.[12]
^Van Veen, M. (2004). Hoverflies of Northwest Europe: identification keys to the Syrphidae. 256pp. KNNV Publishing, Utrecht.
addendum.
^Van der Goot, V.S. (1981). De zweefvliegen van Noordwest - Europa en Europees Rusland, in het bijzonder van de Benelux. KNNV, Uitgave no. 32: 275pp. Amsterdam.
^Bei-Bienko, G.Y. & Steyskal, G.C. (1988). Keys to the Insects of the European Part of the USSR, Volume V: Diptera and Siphonaptera, Part I. Amerind Publishing Co., New Delhi.
ISBN81-205-0080-6.
^Peck, L.V. (1988). "Syrphidae". In: Soos, A. & Papp, L. (eds.). Catalogue of Palaearctic Diptera8: 11-230. Akad. Kiado, Budapest.
^Vockeroth, J.R. (1992). The Flower Flies of the Subfamily Syrphinae of Canada, Alaska, and Greenland (Diptera: Syrphidae). Part 18. The Insects and Arachnids of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Government Pub Centre. pp. 1–456.
ISBN0-660-13830-1.