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

Meligramma triangulifera (Zetterstedt, 1843)

Synonyms and other combinations:

Scaeva triangulifera Zetterstedt, 1843 [original combination] | Melangyna nielseni Violovitsh, 1982 | Syrphus oronoensis Metcalf, 1917 | Xanthogramma tenuis Osburn, 1908 |

  • Meligramma triangulifera, larva 8541
    Meligramma triangulifera (Zetterstedt, 1843)     
    Meligramma triangulifera, larva, conf. atylotus
    DE, Chemnitz, Markersdorf; 2018-10-08 14:44:33
    Image number: 8541
    larva
    DE, Chemnitz, Markersdorf
    2018-10-08 14:44:33
    conf. atylotus
  • Meligramma triangulifera, larva 8542
    Meligramma triangulifera (Zetterstedt, 1843)     
    Meligramma triangulifera, larva, conf. atylotus
    DE, Chemnitz, Markersdorf; 2018-10-08 14:45:03
    Image number: 8542
    larva
    DE, Chemnitz, Markersdorf
    2018-10-08 14:45:03
    conf. atylotus
  • Meligramma triangulifera, larva 8543
    Meligramma triangulifera (Zetterstedt, 1843)     
    Meligramma triangulifera, larva
    DE, Chemnitz, Markersdorf; 2018-10-12 15:11:35
    Image number: 8543
    larva
    DE, Chemnitz, Markersdorf
    2018-10-12 15:11:35
  • Meligramma triangulifera, larva 8544
    Meligramma triangulifera (Zetterstedt, 1843)     
    Meligramma triangulifera, larva
    DE, Chemnitz, Markersdorf; 2018-10-12 15:13:20
    Image number: 8544
    larva
    DE, Chemnitz, Markersdorf
    2018-10-12 15:13:20
  • Meligramma triangulifera, larva 8545
    Meligramma triangulifera (Zetterstedt, 1843)     
    Meligramma triangulifera, larva
    DE, Chemnitz, Markersdorf; 2018-10-12 15:14:32
    Image number: 8545
    larva
    DE, Chemnitz, Markersdorf
    2018-10-12 15:14:32

Distribution:
Fennoscandia south to central France; from Britain east through northern and central parts of Eurasia to the Pacific; in North America from the Yukon to Minnesota, Massachusetts and New York.
Habitat:
Deciduous forests and shrub vegetation, also parks and gardens.
Description:
Length 8 - 10 mm; slender species with weakly shining thorax and oblong abdomen with brownish black base coloration; tergits 3 to 5 each having a pair of distinctly separated, more or less triangular yellow or whitish marks; marks on tergit 3 and 4 reach the side margins; at least front tibiae and front tarsi yellow; scutellum yellow hairy; face predominantly or completely yellow; antennae brownish in the female, yellow in the male.
Biology:
Meligramma triangulifera flies in 2 generations from the end of April to August.
The adults visit flowers between trees and bushes or rest on sunlit leaves. The males hover up to 2 m above the ground. The eggs are laid individually by the females on branches near aphid colonies. After hatching, the larvae feed on aphids. They live on tall herbs, shrubs and trees from different families. The coloration of the larvae is a good camouflage. They can easily be mistaken for bird droppings.
Meligramma triangulifera hibernates as a mature larva.
Note:
In recent literature, this hoverfly is often treated as a species of Melangyna.

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.
  5. Speight, M.C.D. & Sarthou, J.-P. (2014) StN keys for the identification of the European species of various genera of Syrphidae (Diptera) 2014 / Clés StN pour la détermination des espèces Européennes de plusieurs genres des Syrphidae (Diptères) 2014. Syrph the Net, the database of European Syrphidae, Vol. 80, 125 pp, Syrph the Net publications, Dublin