Eupeodes

Eupeodes
Eupeodes corollae male
Eupeodes americanus female
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Syrphidae
Tribe: Syrphini
Genus: Eupeodes
Osten Sacken, 1877
Subgenus
Synonyms
Eupeodes americanus, larva

Eupeodes, the aphideater flies, are a genus of moderate hoverflies in the family Syrphidae. They are distributed worldwide. They are black with yellow markings and can be easily confused with other genera in the Syrphini tribe. Larvae feed on a wide variety of aphids. The adults feed on nectar and pollen as sources of energy and protein, respectively, and often hover over the plants they visit.

Description

The aphideater flies are 6–14 mm (0.24–0.55 in) in length. The eyes have either no hairs, or rarely, very short and sparse hairs. The face is usually yellow, with a narrow but distinct brown middle stripe.

The scutum is usually shining black, but rarely a 'frosty' yellow on the sides. The scutellum is dull yellow, and translucent. The underside of the insect is moderately dense with hairs. The pleura are black or grayish black, never yellow, usually shining or very slightly 'frosty' looking on the upper half. The anterior anepisternum (mesothorax), meron, and metepisternum (the front part of the side wall of the metathorax) are all bare.

The abdomen is oval, usually nearly flat above, with a strong margin from near the middle of tergite 2 to the apex of tergite 5. Tergite 2 typically has a pair of yellow spots, while the other tergites usually have pale yellow to reddish yellow spots commonly crescent shaped, or with bands of similar colour almost straight. The wing vein R4+5 is nearly straight, or slightly but distinctly dipped into cell r4+5. The wing membrane is usually nearly entirely covered in microtrichia, with only small bare areas near the base (Syrphus has tufts of hair on the lobes of it's forewings).

The legs are slender, and the hind femur is unarmed. The hind hip does not have hairs at the posteromedial apical angle (in the back and towards the middle, pointed up).

Species

References

  1. ↑ 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 (PDF). Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Government Pub Centre. pp. 1–456. ISBN 0-660-13830-1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-06-15. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  2. ↑ Skevington, Jeffrey H.; Locke, Michelle M.; Young, Andrew D.; Moran, Kevin; et al. (2019). Field Guide to the Flower Flies of Northeastern North America. Princeton Field Guides. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691189406.
  3. ↑ Fluke, C. L (1952). "The Metasyrphus Species of North America". The American Museum of Natural History. 1590: 1–27. hdl:2246/2398.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Curran, Charles Howard (1925). "Contribution to a monograph of the American Syrphidae north of Mexico". The Kansas University Science Bulletin. 15: 7–216.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Dusek, J. & Laska, P. (1976) European species of Metasyrphus: key, descriptions and notes. Acta ent. bohemoslov., 73: 263 – 282
  6. 1 2 He, J.L; Li, Q.X; Sun, X.Q (1998). "A study of Chinese Eupeodes with descriptions of two new species". Acta Entomologica Sinica. 41 (3): 291–299.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Fluke, C. L (1952). "The Metasyrphus Species of North America". The American Museum of Natural History. 1590: 1–27. hdl:2246/2398.