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Classification:

Merodon avidus belongs to the subfamily Eristalinae, tribe Merodontini (=Eumerini).

Distribution:

Palaearctic: From Western Europe and North Africa to Southwest Asia (Merodon avidus species complex).
Mediterranean basin (Spain (coastal), southern parts of France, Italy, the Adriatic part of Croatia, southern Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Israel and Cyprus), Serbia, eastern Bulgaria and the Crimea (Merodon avidus s. str.).

Habitat:

Various open habitats, such as grasslands, also open sunny forests.

Description:

Body length approx. 10 - 13 mm; slim; thorax with 4 weakly formed, white dusted longitudinal stripes; abdomen cone-shaped, tergite 2 with a pair of whitish, microtrichose spots, tergites 2 and 3 with orange side spots, tergites 3 and 4 with broad, oblique dusted stripes; tibiae usually pale.

Biology:

Adults of Merodon avidus are flower visitors that feed on pollen and nectar. Larvae of the species were found in the bulbs of Ornithogalum umbellatum (Common Star-of-Bethlehem). This host plant occurs throughout the Merodon avidus range and is also visited by the imagines for feeding.

Annotation:

The Merodon avidus species complex includes Merodon avidus (Rossi, 1790), Merodon moenium (Wiedemann, 1822), Merodon ibericus Vujić, 2015 and Merodon megavidus Vujić & Radenković, 2016.

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.
4. Ačanski, Jelena, Ante Vujić, Mihajla Djan, Dragana Obreht Vidaković, Gunilla Ståhls & Snežana Radenković: Defining species boundaries in the Merodon avidus complex (Diptera, Syrphidae) using integrative taxonomy, with a description of a new species. European Journal of Taxonomy(237)2016: 1-25.
5. Dunja, Popović & Ačanski, Jelena & Djan, Mihajla & Obreht Vidakovic, Dragana & Vujic, Ante & Radenkovic, Snezana. (2015). Sibling species delimitation and nomenclature of the Merodon avidus complex (Diptera: Syrphidae). European Journal of Entomology. 112. 10.14411/eje.2015.100.