''Merodon'' is a large genus of

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

-like

hoverflies Hoverflies, also called flower flies or syrphids, make up the insect family (biology), family Syrphidae. As their common name suggests, they are often seen Hover (behaviour), hovering or nectaring at flowers; the adults of many species feed main ...

. The majority of the species are centered on the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

and it is the second largest hoverfly genus in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

with more than 50 European species. It is distributed over the

Palaearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

and

Afrotropical realm The Afrotropical realm is one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Sub-Saharan Africa, the southern Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, and the islands of the western Indian Ocean. It was formerly known as the Ethiopi ...

s, with most European species occurring in Southern and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

. The centre of distribution of this genus appears to be Turkey, where about 65 species have been recorded. Some species occur in Africa (Morocco through East Africa and Ghana to South Africa) and the middle East, as far as Pakistan. Given the rate at which new species have been recorded over the past decades, the worldwide number of species could exceed 200. The

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e feed on the bulbs or

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...

s of

monocotyledon Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, ( Lilianae '' sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are flowering plants whose seeds contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. A monocot taxon has been in use for several decades, but with various ranks ...

One of the more common species in the genus, ''

Merodon equestris ''Merodon equestris'' (Narcissus bulb fly, greater bulb fly, large bulb fly, large Narcissus fly) is a Holarctic species of hoverfly (Family Syrphidae). Like many other hoverflies it displays a colouration pattern similar to a stinging insect ...

'' is known as the Narcissus bulb fly, greater bulb-fly, large bulb fly or large Narcissus fly.

Systematics

Species include: *'' M. aberrans'' Egger, 1860 *'' M. abruzzensis'' van der Goot, 1969 *'' M. adriaticus'' Veselić, Vujić & Radenković, 2017 *'' M. aerarius'' Rondani, 1857 *'' M. analis'' Meigen, 1822 *'' M. aureus'' Meigen, 1822 *'' M. affinis'' Gil Collado, 1930 *'' M. alagoezicus'' Paramonov, 1925 *'' M. albifrons'' Meigen, 1822 *'' M. albifasciatus'' Macquart, 1842 *'' M. albonigrum'' Vujic, Radenkovic & Simic, 1996 *'' M. alexandri'' Popov, 2010 *'' M. alexeji'' Paramonov, 1925 *'' M. ambiguus'' Bradescu, 1986 *'' M. andalusiacus'' Paramonov, 1929 *'' M. andriotes'' Vujić, Radenković & Šašic, 2018 *'' M. annulatus'' (

Fabricius Fabricius (, ) is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *people from the Ancient Roman Fabricia gens, gens Fabricia: **Gaius Fabricius Luscinus, the first of the Fabricii to move to Rome * Johann Goldsmid (1587–1616), known by his ...

, 1794) *'' M. antonioi'' Marcos-García, Vujic & Mengual, 2007 *'' M. armipes'' Rondani, 1843 *'' M. arundanus'' Marcos-García, Vujic & Mengual, 2007 *'' M. atratus'' (Oldenberg, 1919) *'' M. atricapillatus'' Šašić, Ačanski & Vujić, 2018 *'' M. aureus''

, 1805 *'' M. auripes''

Sack A sack usually refers to a rectangular-shaped bag. Sack may also refer to: Bags * Flour sack * Gunny sack * Hacky sack, sport * Money sack * Paper sack * Sleeping bag * Stuff sack * Knapsack Other uses * Bed, a slang term * Sack (band), ...

, 1913 *'' M. auripilus'' Meigen, 1830 *'' M. avidus'' (Rossi, 1790) *'' M. balkanicus'' Šašić, Ačanski & Vujić, 2016 *'' M. bessarabicus'' Paramonov, 1924 *'' M. biarcuatus'' Curran, 1939 *'' M. bolivari'' Gil Collado, 1930 *'' M. cabanerensis'' Marcos-García, Vujic & Mengual, 2007 *'' M. caerulescens'' Loew, 1869 *'' M. calidus'' Vujić, Ačanski & Šašić, 2020 *'' M. caucasicus'' Portschinsky, 1877 *'' M. chalybeatus''

, 1913 *'' M. chalybeus'' Wiedemann in Meigen, 1822 *'' M. cinereus'' (

, 1794) *'' M. clavipes'' (

, 1781) *'' M. clunipes''

, 1913 *'' M. confinium'' Šašić & Vujić, 2020 *'' M. confusus'' Marcos-García, Vujić, Ricarte & Ståhls, 2011 *'' M. constans'' (Rossi, 1794) *'' M. crassifemoris'' Paramonov, 1925 *'' M. crymensis'' Paramonov, 1925 *'' M. crypticus'' Marcos-García, Vujic & Mengual, 2007 *'' M. desuturinus'' Vujic, Simic & Radenkovic, 1995 *'' M. distinctus'' Palma, 1863 *'' M. dobrogensis'' Bradescu, 1982 *'' M. dzhalitae'' Paramonov, 1926 *'' M. elegans'' Hurkmans, 1993 *'' M. equestris'' (

, 1794) *'' M. eques'' (

, 1805) *'' M. erivanicus'' Paramonov, 1925 *'' M. erymanthius'' Vujić, Ačanski and Šašić, 2018 *'' M. escalerai'' Gil Collado, 1929 *'' M. escorialensis'' Strobl, 1909 *'' M. euri'' Vujić & Radenković, 2018 *'' M. femoratoides'' Paramonov, 1925 *'' M. femoratus''

, 1913 *'' M. flavus''

, 1913 *'' M. flavicornis'' Macquart, 1842 *'' M. fractipes'' Paramonov, 1936 *'' M. funestus'' (

, 1794) *'' M. gallicus'' (Vujíc & Radenković, 2012) *'' M. geniculatus'' Strobl, 1909 *'' M. haemorrhoidalis''

, 1913 syn. of M. analis *'' M. hamifer''

, 1913 *'' M. hispanicus''

, 1931 *'' M. hoplitis'' Hurkmans, 2012 *'' M. hurkmansi'' Marcos-García, Vujic & Mengual, 2007 *'' M. kaloceros'' Hurkmans, 1993 *'' M. karadaghensis'' Zimina, 1989 *'' M. kiritschenkoi'' (

Stackelberg __NOTOC__ Stackelberg is a surname, mainly known as the surname of a noble family of Baltic German descent (see Stackelberg family). Notable people with the surname include: A *Adolphe Stackelberg (1822–1871), Swedish count and Christian reviva ...

, 1960) *'' M. kozufensis'' Radenković & Vujić, 2020 *'' M. legionensis'' Marcos-García, Vujic & Mengual, 2007 *'' M. loewi'' van der Goot, 1964 *'' M. longicornis''

, 1913 *'' M. longispinus'' Marcos-García, Vujic & Mengual, 2007 *'' M. lusitanicus'' Hurkmans, 1993 *'' M. luteihumerus'' Marcos-García, Vujic & Mengual, 2007 *'' M. luteomaculatus'' Vujić, Ačanski and Šašic, 2018 *'' M. manicatus''

, 1938 *'' M. mariae'' Hurkmans, 1993 *'' M. medium'' Vujić, Likov & Radenković, 2020 *'' M. megavidus'' Vujić & Radenković, 2016 *'' M. minutus'' Strobl, 1893 *'' M. nanus''

, 1931 *'' M. natans'' (

, 1794) *'' M. naxius'' Vujić & Šašić, 2018 *'' M. nigritarsis'' Rondani, 1845 *'' M. nisi'' Veselić, Vujić & Radenković, 2017 *'' M. nitens'' Hurkmans & Vujić, 2020 *'' M. olympius'' Vujić & Radenković, 2020 *'' M. orjensis'' Radenković & Vujić, 2020 *'' M. parietum'' Wiedemann in Meigen, 1822 *'' M. peloponnesius'' Vujić, Radenković, Ačanski and Šašic, 2018 *'' M. planiceps'' Loew, 1862 *'' M. pruni'' (Rossi, 1790) *'' M. quercetorum'' Marcos-García, Vujic & Mengual, 2007 *'' M. rojoi'' Vujić & Radenković, 2020 *'' M. rubidiventris'' Costa, 1884 *'' M. ruficornis'' Meigen, 1822 *'' M. rufipes''

, 1913 *'' M. rufus'' Meigen, 1838 *'' M. sacki'' ( Paramonov, 1936) *'' M. segetum'' (

, 1794) *'' M. spicatus''

Becker Becker () is one of the German-language surnames, along with Bäcker and Baecker, that derive from the root, which refers to baking. The surname began as a name for a baker (and thus his family). In northern Germany, it can also derive from th ...

, 1907 *'' M. spineus'' Vujić, Šašić & Likov, 2020 *'' M. spinitarsis'' Paramonov, 1929 *'' M. splendens'' Hurkmans, 1993 *'' M. strobli'' Bradescu, 1986 *'' M. stukei'' Hauser & Hurkmans, 1997 *'' M. tener''

, 1913 *'' M. teruelensis'' van der Goot, 1966 *'' M. testaceoides'' Hurkmans, 1993 *'' M. toscanus'' Hurkmans, 1993 *'' M. triangulum'' Vujić, Radenković & Hurkmans, 2020 *'' M. tricinctus''

, 1913 *'' M. trochantericus'' Costa, 1884 *'' M. unguicornis'' Strobl, 1909 *'' M. velox'' Loew, 1869 *'' M. virgatus'' Vujić & Radenković, 2016 *'' M. vladimiri'' Vujić, 2018

References

General References for Merodon

*Hurkmans, Willem, 1993. A Monograph of Merodon (Diptera: Syrphidae). ''Tijdschrift voor Entomologie'' 136: 147-234. * Sack, Pius, 1913. ''Die Gattung Merodon Meigen (Lampetia Meigen olim.). Abhandlungen des Senckenbergische Gesellschafts der Naturforscher'' 31: 427-462 {{Taxonbar, from=Q1757479 Hoverfly genera Diptera of Europe Eumerini Taxa named by Johann Wilhelm Meigen