''Meligramma guttatum'' 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 ...
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 ...
.
DescriptionExternal images
For terms, see:
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 5 · 25–7 mm. Antennae black. Tibiae 1 and tarsi 1 partly dark-coloured. Thorax dorsum with 2 yellow spots just before scutellum, (which may be absent in the male). Marks on tergites 3 and 4 rectangular. The male genitalia are figured by Hippa (1968). Larva described and figured 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 ...
: Fennoscandia South to the Pyrenees. Ireland East through North Europe and Central Europe into European Russia, the Russian Far East and Siberia to the Pacific coast (Sakhalin);
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 to Arizona.
Biology
Habitat: Deciduous forest, field hedges with mature ''Fraxinus'', mature ''Salix'' and ''Alnus''
carr.
Flowers visited include white umbellifers, ''Epilobium angustifolium'', ''Euonymus'', ''Filipendula'', ''Frangula alnus'', ''Galium'', ''Solidago''.
[de Buck, N. (1990). "Bloembezoek en bestuivingsecologie van Zweefvliegen (Diptera, Syrphidae) in het bijzonder voor België". ''Doc. Trav.'' IRSNB, no. 60, pp. 1-167.]
The flight period is June to August.
References
Diptera of Europe
Syrphinae
Syrphini
Insects described in 1817
{{Syrphidae-stub