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Classification:

Cheilosia scutellata belongs to the subfamily Eristalinae, tribe Rhingiini.

Distribution:

Fennoscandia south to Iberia and round the Mediterranean to Greece, Turkey and North Africa; from Ireland eastwards through Eurasia to the Pacific coast.

Habitat:

A wide range of types of forest, from northern European conifer forest to Mediterranean maquis.

Description:

The 7 - 10 mm large Cheilosia scutellata has uniformly brownish tinted wings, black and yellow colored legs, a scutellum with marginal bristles and a finely dotted thorax. Face and eyes are naked. The third antenna element is brown, the arista hairy. In females, the posterior margin of the scutellum is yellow.
A similar species is Cheilosia soror. This has an orange red third antenna element.

Biology:

Cheilosia scutellata flies from April to September (or November in southern Europe) in 2 overlapping generations.
The larvae inhabit the fruiting bodies of large fungi, especially of Boletus, Leccinum, Russula, Xerocomus and Suillus.

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.