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Classification:

Chrysotoxum festivum belongs to the subfamily Syrphinae, tribe Syrphini.

Distribution:

Fennoscandia south to Iberia and the Mediterranean, including northern Africa; from Ireland eastwards through much of Europe into Turkey and European parts of Russia; through Siberia to the Pacific coast; Japan; northern India.

Habitat:

Open areas in deciduous forests, grassland with bushes.

Description:

Chrysotoxum festivum has a body length of 11 - 15 mm. On the segments 2, 3 and 4 of the predominately black abdomen arcuate narrow, yellow cross stripes are located. The yellow stripes on the oval abdomen do not reach the lateral seam. The lateral seam is black. At the front edge of the wings is a darker spot. The femora are reddish yellow. The 3rd antenna segment is shorter than the 1st and 2nd together.
There are a few similar, difficult to distinguish Chrysotoxum species. In the similar Chrysotoxum vernale the front and middle femora are 1/4 black at the base.

Biology:

Chrysotoxum festivum flies from Mai to September. Adults are flower visitors. A mature larva of the species was found under a stone together with Black Garden Ants (Lasius niger).

Annotation:

Chrysotoxum festivum (Linnaeus, 1758) = Chrysotoxum arcuatum (Linnaeus, 1758) sensu Thompson et al. (1982)

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.