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

Melangyna lasiophthalma (Zetterstedt, 1843)

Frühe Frühlingsschwebfliege

Synonyms and other combinations:

Epistrophe abruptus Curran, 1924 | Mesosyrphus constrictus Matsumura, 1917 | Mesosyrphus elongatus Matsumura, 1917 | Stenosyrphus columbiae Curran, 1925 | Stenosyrphus garretti Curran, 1925 | Stenosyrphus nikkoensis Matsumura, 1918 | Stenosyrphus saghalinensis Matsumura, 1917 | Stenosyrphus vittifacies Curran, 1923 | Stenosyrphus yezoensis Matsumura, 1918 | Syrphus flavosignatus Hull, 1930 | Syrphus mentalis Williston, 1887 | Syrphus sexquadratus Walker, 1849 |

  • Melangyna lasiophthalma, female 587
    Melangyna lasiophthalma (Zetterstedt, 1843)  Frühe Frühlingsschwebfliege   
    Melangyna lasiophthalma, female
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald; 2006-04-08 10:00:21
    Image number: 587
    female
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald
    2006-04-08 10:00:21

Classification:
Melangyna lasiophthalma belongs to the subfamily Syrphinae, tribe Syrphini.
Distribution:
From Iceland and Fennoscandia south to the Pyrenees and mountainous parts of Spain; from Ireland eastwards through northern Europe and mountainous parts of central Europe into European parts of Russia; through much of Siberia. In the Nearctic from Alaska south to Colorado and Maryland.
Habitat:
Forests, parks, gardens; open areas in (wet) deciduous forests, forest edges, even in coniferous forests.
Description:
Body length 8 - 10 mm; shiny metallic thorax; abdomen with yellowish or orange spot pairs on tergits 2 - 4; front tibia black at least in the top half; face with black median strip; antennae black; females: forehead on both sides with narrow arc-shaped dust spots, dark hairy scutellum; males: eyes clearly hairy.
Biology:
Melangyna lasiophthalma flies in one generation from April to June. Adults prefer to sit in sunny places. They are often found on flowering trees and shrubs, such as willows and blackthorn, but also visit low-growing flowering plants.
The larvae of Melangyna lasiophthalma are predators feeding on aphids. They were found several times together with aphids on sycamore maple and on yellow gentian. Melangyna lasiophthalma overwinters 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.