''Criorhina berberina'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

hoverfly Hover flies, also called flower flies or syrphid flies, make up the insect family Syrphidae. As their common name suggests, they are often seen hovering or nectaring at flowers; the adults of many species feed mainly on nectar and pollen, while ...

. It is found in the

Palaearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

from Fennoscandia South to Iberia and Italy. Ireland eastwards through Europe into Turkey and European Russia . ''C. berberina'' is a bumblebee

mimic MIMIC, known in capitalized form only, is a former simulation computer language developed 1964 by H. E. Petersen, F. J. Sansom and L. M. Warshawsky of Systems Engineering Group within the Air Force Materiel Command at the Wright-Patterson AFB in ...

. The body has uniformly long dense pubescence, obscuring the ground-colour. There are two forms one with the pubescence more or less extensively blackish (typical ''berberina''), one in which it is entirely yellow or tawny (''berberina'' var. ''oxyacanthae'' Meigen). ''Criorhina'' differ from other bumblebee mimics - ''

Mallota ''Mallota'' is a widely distributed Holarctic genus of hoverfly (a member of the fly family Syrphidae), well known for their bee-like appearance. Species *'' M. albipes'' Snow, 1895 *'' M. bautias'' (Walker, 1849) *'' M. bequaerti'' Hull, 19 ...

'', '' Arctophila'', ''

Pocota ''Pocota'' is a genus hoverflies, from the family Syrphidae, in the order Diptera. Species *'' P. bomboides'' Hunter, 1897 *'' P. personata'' (Harris Harris may refer to: Places Canada * Harris, Ontario * Northland Pyrite Mine (also known as ...

'' and ''

Brachypalpus ''Brachypalpus'' is a genus of hoverflies, from the family Syrphidae, in the order Diptera. The head is triangular and produced well forwards and somewhat downwards. The thorax and abdomen with pile often rather long. The hind femur is swoll ...

'' by the form of their antennae: the first segments are thin and form a stalk, the third segment is shorter than it is wide. In ''Criorhina'', the face projects downwards, in contrast to ''Pocota'' and ''Brachypalpus''.

Larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e of ''C. berberina'' are associated with rotting deciduous wood. The larva is figured by Hartley (1961) and Rotheray (1993) Adults are arboreal and found in most categories of both coniferous and deciduous forest with overmature trees and are seen visiting flowers to feed. These include white umbellifers, ''Allium ursinum'', ''Cornus sanguinea'', ''Crataegus'', ''Euonymus'', ''Filipendula'', ''Frangula alnus'', ''Hypericum'', ''Lonicera xylosteum'', ''Photinia'', ''Ranunculus'', ''Rhamnus catharticus'', ''Rhododendron'', ''Rosa'', ''Rubus idaeus'', ''Salix'', ''Sorbus'', ''Taraxacum'' and ''Viburnum opulus''.de Buck, N. (1990) Bloembezoek en bestuivingsecologie van Zweefvliegen (Diptera, Syrphidae) in het bijzonder voor België. ''Doc.Trav.'' IRSNB, no.60, 1-167. The flight period is May to July . ''C. berberina'' is a

bioindicator A bioindicator is any species (an indicator species) or group of species whose function, population, or status can reveal the qualitative status of the environment. The most common indicator species are animals. For example, copepods and other sma ...

References

External links

External images

Biolib
Diptera of Europe Eristalinae Insects described in 1805 Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius {{Syrphidae-stub