Platycheirus granditarsus

Platycheirus granditarsus is a species of hoverfly. It is found in many parts of Britain and Europe. Typical habitat includes marshy meadows and ditches, where it can be found between May and October, though it is at its commonest between July and September. The most distinctive feature of this fly is the red-orange abdomen most easily seen as it takes off or alights.[1][2][3]

Platycheirus granditarsus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Diptera
Family:
Syrphidae
Genus:
Platycheirus
Subgenus:
Pyrophaena
Species:
P. granditarsus
Binomial name
Platycheirus granditarsus
(Forster, 1771)
Synonyms
  • Musca confusa Harris, 1780
  • Musca granditarsa Forster, 1771
  • Platycheirus confusus (Harris, 1780)
  • Platycheirus ocymi (Fabricius, 1794)
  • Pyrophaena granditarsa (Forster, 1771)
  • Syrphus ocymi] Fabricius, 1794

Description

External images For terms see Morphology of Diptera
Tergites 2-4 are largely red (hind corners of tergites 2 and 3 are black in females). Male metatarsus is dilated and with an inward protuberance. It has blackish wings. See references for determination.[4][5][6][7]

Distribution

Palearctic: Fennoscandia south to France and the Alps, Ireland east through Northern Europe and Central Europe into European Russia then across Siberia and the Russian Far East to the Pacific coast. Nearctic: Alaska to Quebec and south to Colorado.[8][9][10]

Habitat: Ireland.

Biology

Habitat: humid grassland subject to flooding, marsh, fen, edges of raised bogs. Flies May to September. [11] It flies May to August.

References
  1. Ball, S.G.; Morris, R.K.A. (2000). Provisional atlas of British hoverflies (Diptera, Syrphidae). Monks Wood, UK: Biological Record Centre. pp. 167 pages. ISBN 1-870393-54-6.
  2. Morris, Roger K.A. (1999). Hoverflies of Surrey. Surrey Wildlife Trust. p. 244. ISBN 0-9526065-3-4.
  3. Stubbs, Alan E. & Falk, Steven J. (1983). British Hoverflies: An Illustrated Identification Guide. British Entomological & Natural History Society. p. 253, xvpp.
  4. Van Veen, M. (2004). Hoverflies of Northwest Europe: identification keys to the Syrphidae. 256pp. KNNV Publishing, Utrecht.addendum.
  5. 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.
  6. 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. ISBN 81-205-0080-6.
  7. Coe, R.L. (1953). "Diptera: Syrphidae". Handbks. Ident. Br. Insects 10(1): 1-98. R. Ent. Soc. London. pdf.
  8. Fauna Europaea.
  9. Peck, L.V. (1988). "Syrphidae". In: Soos, A. & Papp, L. (eds.). Catalogue of Palaearctic Diptera 8: 11-230. Akad. Kiado, Budapest.
  10. 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. ISBN 0-660-13830-1.
  11. Speight, M.C.D. (2011). "Species accounts of European Syrphidae (Diptera)" (PDF). Syrph the Net, the database of European Syrphidae. 65: 285pp.
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