arthropodafotos.de

Classification:

Platycheirus rosarum belongs to the subfamily Syrphinae, tribe Bacchini.

Distribution:

From Fennoscandia south to Iberia and the Mediterranean; from Ireland eastwards through most of Europe into European parts of Russia; in Siberia from the Urals to the Altai; in North America from Alaska to Nova Scotia and south to New Jersey.

Habitat:

Wetland: Pond, stream and river margins with tall herbaceous vegetation, fen, Salix swamp, wet seasonally flooded grassland.

Description:

Body length 7 - 10 mm; abdomen oblong, black with a pair of yellowish spots on the 3rd tergite, mostly connected at the front edge.

Biology:

Platycheirus rosarum flies from May to September (probably in several generations per year). Adults fly though waterside and fen vegetation. They visit the flowers of Caltha, Knautia, Lythrum, Potentilla erecta and Ranunculus. Males hover over sparsely vegetated patches.
The larvae of Platycheirus rosarum are unknown.

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.