''Eristalis abusiva'' is a

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an species of

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 similar to '' Eristalis arbustorum''.

Description

The wings are between 8-9.5 mm in length. The scutellum is shiny. The face covered with pale dust (a narrow black stripe in worn specimens) on the lower part. Arista with the apical half bare and basal half very short-haired. The eyes are pale yellow haired. The male eyes are separated. The tibia are pale black on basal 1/4 or less. Tibia 2 is very pale. The male genitalia are figured by Hippa et al. (2001) The larva is figured by Hartley (1961).

Distribution

''Eristalis abusiva'' occurs from

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 ...

Fennoscandia and the Faroes (Jensen, 2001) south to North France, from Ireland eastwards through Europe and Russia to the Pacific coast.

Biology

The habitat is wetland, coastal fen and salt-marsh, marsh and fen, raised bog and cutover bog. Flowers visited include yellow composites, white umbellifers, ''Calluna vulgaris'', ''Caltha'', ''Cirsium'', ''Erica'', ''Potentilla erecta'', ''Ranunculus'', ''Rubus fruticosus'', ''Salix repens'', ''Stellaria'', ''Spartina''.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 beginning May to mid October. The larva is aquatic.

References

Eristalinae Diptera of Europe Insects described in 1931 {{Syrphidae-stub