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Distribution:

Palearctic: From Western Europe to Japan, in Europe from Scandinavia and the British Isles to Bulgaria.

Habitat:

In deciduous forests on mineral-rich soil and on calcareous grasslands, primarily on the transitions of forest with grassland.

Description:

Body length 8 - 10 mm; wing with a dark spot, which is not sharply defined on the side of the wing tip; abdomen uniformly black or with small spots on the second tergit, brightly haired; hind femora strongly thickened, club-shaped, in the last third with bump-shaped elevation on the underside; forefeet partially black.

Biology:

Pipiza austriaca flies in two generations from May to August. Adults are mainly found on leaves of trees and bushes, but also observed visiting the flowers of umbellivers, Euphorbia and Ranunculus.
The predatory larvae of Pipiza austriaca feed on aphids. They were found together with aphids on yellow gentian, vetch and hogweed (genus: Cavariella).

References, further reading, links:

1. Gerald Bothe: Bestimmungsschlüssel für die Schwebfliegen (Diptera, Syrphidae) Deutschlands und der Niederlande, DJN, 1984, ISBN 3-923376-07-3
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. 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.