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

Rhingia campestris Meigen, 1822

Gemeine Schnauzenschwebfliege Common Snout-hoverfly

Synonyms and other combinations:

Musca nasatus Harris, 1780 | Musca nosata Harris, 1780 | Musca nosatus Harris, 1780 |

  • Rhingia campestris, male 992
    Rhingia campestris Meigen, 1822  Gemeine Schnauzenschwebfliege  Common Snout-hoverfly 
    Rhingia campestris, male
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald; 2009-08-23 10:47:28
    Image number: 992
    male
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald
    2009-08-23 10:47:28
  • Rhingia campestris, male 993
    Rhingia campestris Meigen, 1822  Gemeine Schnauzenschwebfliege  Common Snout-hoverfly 
    Rhingia campestris, male
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald; 2009-08-23 10:48:06
    Image number: 993
    male
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald
    2009-08-23 10:48:06
  • Rhingia campestris, male 994
    Rhingia campestris Meigen, 1822  Gemeine Schnauzenschwebfliege  Common Snout-hoverfly 
    Rhingia campestris, male
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald; 2009-08-23 10:49:10
    Image number: 994
    male
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald
    2009-08-23 10:49:10
  • Rhingia campestris, male 995
    Rhingia campestris Meigen, 1822  Gemeine Schnauzenschwebfliege  Common Snout-hoverfly 
    Rhingia campestris, male
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald; 2009-08-23 10:49:22
    Image number: 995
    male
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald
    2009-08-23 10:49:22
  • Rhingia campestris, male 724
    Rhingia campestris Meigen, 1822  Gemeine Schnauzenschwebfliege  Common Snout-hoverfly 
    Rhingia campestris, male
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald; 2005-05-14 12:47:36
    Image number: 724
    male
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald
    2005-05-14 12:47:36
  • Rhingia campestris, male 725
    Rhingia campestris Meigen, 1822  Gemeine Schnauzenschwebfliege  Common Snout-hoverfly 
    Rhingia campestris, male
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald; 2005-05-14 12:48:17
    Image number: 725
    male
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald
    2005-05-14 12:48:17
  • Rhingia campestris, female 4539
    Rhingia campestris Meigen, 1822  Gemeine Schnauzenschwebfliege  Common Snout-hoverfly 
    Rhingia campestris, female
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald; 2011-05-01 11:27:46
    Image number: 4539
    female
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald
    2011-05-01 11:27:46
  • Rhingia campestris, female 4538
    Rhingia campestris Meigen, 1822  Gemeine Schnauzenschwebfliege  Common Snout-hoverfly 
    Rhingia campestris, female
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald; 2011-05-01 11:23:01
    Image number: 4538
    female
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald
    2011-05-01 11:23:01

Classification:
Rhingia campestris belongs to the subfamily Eristalinae, tribe Rhingiini.
Distribution:
From northern Fennoscandia south to the Pyrenees, northern Spain and the Mediterranean; from Ireland eastwards through most of Europe into European parts of Russia and the Caucasus; throughout Siberia to the Pacific coast; Mongolia.
Habitat:
Various open habitats with suitable nectar and pollen sources, open alluvial forest, forest edges, most often near grazing cattle.
Description:
Body length 7 - 11 mm; face forward strikingly beak-shaped extended; thorax with dusted longitudinal stripes; abdomen stout, red with black median stripe and black side seam, tergits usually with dark edges; legs mostly red, femora at the base black, tibiae with a black ring.
Similar species:
In Europe, there are two other species of the genus: Rhingia rostrata with a nearly red abdomen with a red side seam and Rhingia borealis with black femora which can be slightly lighter at the tip, a dark brown scutellum and a slightly shorter "beak".
Biology:
The Common Snout-hoverfly Rhingia campestris flies in 2 generations with peaks in May and August from April to Oktober.
The Imagines visit a wide range of flowering plants, especially also Lamiaceae. They preferably feed on nectar. The females of Rhingia campestris lay their eggs on overhanging parts of plants above cow pats or on the ground near to a cow pat. After 1 to 3 days, the larvae hatch. Up to a hundred larvae can be found in a single cow pat when several females have laid eggs there. It is extremely difficult to discover the larvae, because they camouflage with manure particles. After 2 to 3 weeks, the larvae are fully grown and pupate. The pupal stage lasts about 10 days.
Presumably, the larvae can also develop in moist, nutrient-rich accumulations of rotting foliage, if cow dung is unavailable.
Rhingia campestris hibernates as a puparium.

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.