''Melangyna lasiophthalma'' is a

Holarctic The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. It corresponds to the floristic Boreal Kingdom. It includes both the Nearctic zoogeographical region ...

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 ...

Description

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Morphology of Diptera Dipteran morphology differs in some significant ways from the broader morphology of insects. The Diptera is a very large and diverse order of mostly small to medium-sized insects. They have prominent compound eyes on a mobile head, and (at most) ...

Wing length 7-9·25 mm. Facial prominence projecting well beyond frontal prominence. Post-orbital strip wide. scutellar hairs mostly yellow towards anterior margin. Long hairs on general body surface black and brownish-yellow. The male terminalia are figured by Hippa (1968) ). Larva described and figured by Goeldlin (1974) and in colour by Rotheray (1994). See references for determination.

Distribution

Palearctic 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 Iceland and Fennoscandia South to the Pyrenees and mountains of Spain. Ireland East through North Europe and mountainous parts of Central Europe. East into European Russia and Siberia.

Nearctic The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America t ...

from Alaska south to Colorado and Maryland.

Biology

Habitat: ''Quercus'' forest, ''Fraxinus'' and ''Salix'' gallery woods along rivers, ''Alnus'', ''Salix'', ''Betula'' forests, ''Abies'' and ''Picea'' forest, Atlantic scrub, hedgerows, suburban gardens, parks and orchards. Flowers visited include ''Acer pseudoplatanus'', ''Alnus glutinosa'', ''Anemone nemorosa'', ''Anthriscus'', ''Caltha'', C''hrysosplenium oppositifolium'', ''Corylus avellana'', ''Euphorbia'', ''Ilex'', ''Lonicera xylosteum'', ''Narcissus'', ''Oxalis'', ''Prunus laurocerasus'', ''Prunus spinosa'', ''Ranunculus'', ''Salix'', ''Sambucus'', ''Sorbus aucuparia'', ''Taraxacum'', ''Tussilago'', ''Ulex''.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 March to June (later at higher altitudes and more northerly latitudes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melangyna Lasiophthalma Diptera of Europe Syrphinae Insects described in 1843 Taxa named by Johan Wilhelm Zetterstedt