Eupeodes corollae - Migrant Hoverfly

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

Eupeodes corollae (Fabricius, 1794)

Gemeine Feldschwebfliege Migrant Hoverfly

Synonyms and other combinations:

Eupeodes corollae (Fabricius, 1794) Gemeine Feldschwebfliege Migrant Hoverfly
Eupeodes corollae, male
DE, Chemnitz; 2004-07-24 12:51:51
Image number: 641
male
DE, Chemnitz
2004-07-24 12:51:51
Eupeodes corollae (Fabricius, 1794) Gemeine Feldschwebfliege Migrant Hoverfly
Eupeodes corollae, male
DE, Chemnitz; 2004-07-24 12:52:14
Image number: 620
male
DE, Chemnitz
2004-07-24 12:52:14
Eupeodes corollae (Fabricius, 1794) Gemeine Feldschwebfliege Migrant Hoverfly
Eupeodes corollae, male
DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald; 2009-07-19 10:00:58
Image number: 772
male
DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald
2009-07-19 10:00:58
Eupeodes corollae (Fabricius, 1794) Gemeine Feldschwebfliege Migrant Hoverfly
Eupeodes corollae, male
DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald; 2007-08-12 12:34:33
Image number: 1016
male
DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald
2007-08-12 12:34:33
Eupeodes corollae (Fabricius, 1794) Gemeine Feldschwebfliege Migrant Hoverfly
Misumena vatia + Eupeodes corollae
DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald; 2007-08-12 12:33:14
Image number: 3804

DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald
2007-08-12 12:33:14
Eupeodes corollae (Fabricius, 1794) Gemeine Feldschwebfliege Migrant Hoverfly
Eupeodes corollae, female
DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald; 2009-07-19 09:47:55
Image number: 1275
female
DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald
2009-07-19 09:47:55
Eupeodes corollae (Fabricius, 1794) Gemeine Feldschwebfliege Migrant Hoverfly
Eupeodes corollae, female
DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald; 2009-07-19 09:48:11
Image number: 1276
female
DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald
2009-07-19 09:48:11
Eupeodes corollae (Fabricius, 1794) Gemeine Feldschwebfliege Migrant Hoverfly
Eupeodes corollae, female
DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald; 2009-07-19 09:43:48
Image number: 1277
female
DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald
2009-07-19 09:43:48
Eupeodes corollae (Fabricius, 1794) Gemeine Feldschwebfliege Migrant Hoverfly
Eupeodes corollae, female
DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald; 2009-07-19 09:42:14
Image number: 1278
female
DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald
2009-07-19 09:42:14

Classification:

Eupeodes corollae belongs to the subfamily Syrphinae, tribe Syrphini.

Distribution:

From Iceland, Fennoscandia and the Faroes south to Iberia, the Mediterranean, Madeira, the Canary Isles and North Africa; coastal States of Africa down to and including South Africa; Mauritius; from Ireland eastwards through most of Europe into European parts of Russia; through Siberia from the Urals to the Pacific coast; Japan; China; Formosa.

Habitat:

Preferably in open ground: grasland, farmland, gardens, parks.

Description:

Eupeodes corollae has a body length of 7 - 10.5 mm. The thorax is monochrome brown, the scutellum almost yellow haary. On the abdomen are 3 pairs of yellow spots. The curved pairs of spots on the segments 3 and 4 always go beyond the lateral seam and have in the males usually a narrow connection in the middle. The eyes are hairless, the antennae are brown. In females, the frons is black above and yellowish below.

Biology:

Eupeodes corollae flies in several generations from April to October (all year round in southern Europe). The species is one of the seasonal migrants. These usually fly southwards in large numbers before winter and can travel considerable distances. Their offspring will move north again in spring.
The Imagines visit the flowers of umbelliferae, Cirsium, Galeopsis, Hypericum, Ranunculus, Tussilago and other plants from different families. The male Eupeodes corollae from 2007 shown here was probably somewhat inattentive during the flower visit and became the victim of a subadult male of the Goldenrod Crab Spider Misumena vatia. When a male has found a female, the mating begins in flight and continues in the vegetation or on the ground. A female lays hundreds of eggs in aphid colonies on different plants.
The larvae feed on aphids. Larval development is temperature dependent and lasts about 7 to 25 days. During this time a larva eats several hundred aphids. The subsequent pupal stage lasts about 8 days. Eupeodes corollae can overwinter as a puparium. At temperatures below 4 °C, the development of the puparium stagnates. Only at higher temperatures, the puparium continues to develop until a new fly hatches.

Annotation:

The species is found in the older literature under the name Metasyrphus corollae.

References, further reading, links:

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

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