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Distribution:

Fennoscandia south to southern Spain and north Africa (Algeria) and round the Mediterranean through southern Europe to Turkey; from Ireland eastwards through central/northern parts of Eurasia to the Pacific coast of Siberia and Japan.

Habitat:

Different types of deciduous forests (with mature or overmature trees), often in the oak forest, sometimes also in more open habitats.

Description:

Ferdinandea cuprea has a body length of 8 - 13 mm. The thorax is dark with dull gray vertical stripes. The coppery abdomen is very shiny, only the rear edges of the segments are dull. The wings have dark marked crossveins and a yellow root. The arista is black.
A similar, less common species in Germany is Ferdinandea ruficornis. This has a yellow arista.

Biology:

Ferdinandea cuprea flies in 2 - 3 generations from April to September (in southern Europe to November). Adults visit flowers and have a preference for blue.
Larvae of the species have been found in tree wounds and sap runs under the bark of living deciduous trees of various species, including birch, oak, elm, poplar and willow, or in association with wet, decaying tree roots and in tree humus of trunk cavities in old oaks. Their development does not necessarily depend upon trees. In France, larvae of Ferdinandea cuprea have been found on artichoke roots (Cynara). The larvae are probably phytophagous and saprophagous.
The species overwinters as a fully grown larva or as a puparium. The puparia are usually found under loose bark near a sap run or at the base of living oaks, where parts of the trunk-base or roots were rotting.

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. Gerald Bothe: Bestimmungsschlüssel für die Schwebfliegen (Diptera, Syrphidae) Deutschlands und der Niederlande, DJN, 1984, ISBN 3-923376-07-3
3. 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.
4. Menno Reemer, Willem Renema, Wouter van Steenis, Theo Zeegers, Aat Barendregt, John T. Smit, Mark P. van Veen, Jeroen van Steenis, Laurens van der Leij: De Nederlandse Zweefvliegen (Diptera: Syrphidae), Nederlandse Fauna 8, 2009.