American Thintail Fly

Meliscaeva cinctella

"Meliscaeva cinctella" is a Holarctic species of hoverfly.
An American Thintail Fly. This hoverfly was visiting one of our daffodils. Canada,Geotagged,Meliscaeva cinctella,Spring

Appearance

Winglength 7-9-75 mm. Elongated body. Lunula black with a black mark above it. Face entirely yellow. The alula is a narrow, rectangule. Tergite 2 with broad, square yellow marks. Tergites 3 and 4 with broad yellow bands which extend to the abdominal margin and have little points.

Distribution

Palearctic Fennoscandia South to Iberia the Mediterranean basin. Ireland East through most of Europe, Turkey and European Russian then East to Siberia and the Russian Far East to the Pacific coast Nearctic Alaska south to California and Colorado.

Habitat

The species' habitat includes deciduous and coniferous forest, hedgerows and suburban gardens and parks. Flowers visited include white umbellifers, "Acer pseudoplatanus", "Crataegus", "Euphorbia", "Ilex", "Ligustrum", "Lonicera periclymenum", "Origanum vulgare", "Polygonum cuspidatum", "Potentilla erecta", "Prunus spinosa", "Ranunculus", "Rhododendron", "Rubus fruticosus", "Rubus idaeus", "Salix", "Sambucus", "Senecio jacobaea", "Solidago virgaurea", "Sorbus aucuparia" and "Taraxacum".

Food

The flight period is April to September. The larva feeds on aphids on bushes, shrub and trees.

References:

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Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderDiptera
FamilySyrphidae
GenusMeliscaeva
SpeciesM. cinctella
Photographed in
Canada