Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods) ➔ Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods) ➔ Class Insecta (Insects) ➔ Order Diptera (True flies) ➔ Family Syrphidae (Hoverflies)

Ceriana vespiformis (Latreille, 1804)

Synonyms and other combinations:

Ceria intricata Saunders, 1845 | Ceria scutellata Macquart, 1842 |

  • Ceriana vespiformis, female 4878
    Ceriana vespiformis (Latreille, 1804)     
    Ceriana vespiformis, female
    GR, Korfu, Dassia; 2011-08-31 10:25:49
    Image number: 4878
    female
    GR, Korfu, Dassia
    2011-08-31 10:25:49

Classification:
Ceriana vespiformis belongs to the subfamily Eristalinae, tribe Cerioidini.
Distribution:
Spain and round the Mediterranean basin to Albania and Greece; Roumania and Turkey; Lebanon and Israel and in North Africa from Morocco to Egypt; various Mediterranean islands.
Habitat:
Forest; preferred in evergreen oak forest of Quercus suber and Quercus ilex with over mature trees.
Description:
The conspicuous yellow-black drawn Ceriana vespiformis has a body length of 9.3 - 11.8 mm (female) and 8.8 – 10.7 mm (male). The abdomen shows 3 narrow yellow cross strips. The scutellum is yellow. The antennae sit on an extension of the forehead, which is longer than the first antenna segment (scapus).
Biology:
Adults fly mainly from end Mai to mid July (and in September) and visit umbellifers, Mentha pulegium and Thapsia villosa.
Larvae were found in a sap-run on Morus alba und in decaying roots of a live Fraxinus angustifolius.

References, further reading, links:
  1. Pape T. & Thompson F.C. (eds) (2017). Systema Dipterorum (version 2.0, Jan 2011). In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life, 2017 Annual Checklist (Roskov Y., Abucay L., Orrell T., Nicolson D., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., DeWalt R.E., Decock W., De Wever A., Nieukerken E. van, Zarucchi J., Penev L., eds.). Digital resource at www.catalogueoflife.org/annual-checklist/2017. Species 2000: Naturalis, Leiden, the Netherlands. ISSN 2405-884X.
  2. M.C.D.Speight: Species Accounts of European Syrphidae (Diptera), Glasgow 2011, Syrph the Net, the database of European Syrphidae, vol. 65, 285 pp., Syrph the Net publications, Dublin.
  3. Speight, M.C.D. & Sarthou, J.-P.: StN keys for the identification of adult European Syrphidae (Diptera), Glasgow 2011/Clés StN pour la détermination des adultes des Syrphidae Européens (Diptères), Glasgow 2011. Syrph the Net, the database of European Syrphidae, Vol. 66, 120 pp, Syrph the Net publications, Dublin.
  4. Steenis, J., Ricarte, A., Vujić, A., Birtele, D., & Speight, M.: Revision of the West-Palaearctic species of the tribe Cerioidini (Diptera, Syrphidae). Zootaxa, 4196(2), (2016), 151–209. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4196.2.1