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

Syritta pipiens (Linnaeus, 1758)

Gemeine Keulenschwebfliege Thick legged Hoverfly

Synonyms and other combinations:

Musca pipines Fourcroy, 1785 | Spheginoides tenofemorus Dzhafarova, 1974 | Syritta albicincta Abreu, 1924 | Syritta flavicans Szilady, 1940 | Syritta obscuripes Strobl, 1899 | Syritta vicina Szilady, 1940 | Xylota proxima Say, 1824 |

  • Syritta pipiens, female  665
    Syritta pipiens (Linnaeus, 1758)  Gemeine Keulenschwebfliege  Thick legged Hoverfly 
    Syritta pipiens, female
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald; 2006-08-05 12:03:33
    Image number: 665
    female
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald
    2006-08-05 12:03:33

  • Syritta pipiens, female  604
    Syritta pipiens (Linnaeus, 1758)  Gemeine Keulenschwebfliege  Thick legged Hoverfly 
    Syritta pipiens, female
    DE, Chemnitz, Harthwald; 2007-05-29 14:48:27
    Image number: 604
    female
    DE, Chemnitz, Harthwald
    2007-05-29 14:48:27

  • Syritta pipiens, female  605
    Syritta pipiens (Linnaeus, 1758)  Gemeine Keulenschwebfliege  Thick legged Hoverfly 
    Syritta pipiens, female
    DE, Chemnitz, Harthwald; 2007-05-29 14:48:12
    Image number: 605
    female
    DE, Chemnitz, Harthwald
    2007-05-29 14:48:12

  • Syritta pipiens, female  606
    Syritta pipiens (Linnaeus, 1758)  Gemeine Keulenschwebfliege  Thick legged Hoverfly 
    Syritta pipiens, female
    ES, Fuerteventura, Costa Calma; 2008-02-19 10:16:14
    Image number: 606
    female
    ES, Fuerteventura, Costa Calma
    2008-02-19 10:16:14

  • Syritta pipiens, male  902
    Syritta pipiens (Linnaeus, 1758)  Gemeine Keulenschwebfliege  Thick legged Hoverfly 
    Syritta pipiens, male
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald; 2009-07-31 13:16:40
    Image number: 902
    male
    DE, Chemnitz, Zeisigwald
    2009-07-31 13:16:40

  • Syritta pipiens, female  908
    Syritta pipiens (Linnaeus, 1758)  Gemeine Keulenschwebfliege  Thick legged Hoverfly 
    Syritta pipiens, female
    DE, Chemnitz, Hutholz; 2009-08-02 09:01:34
    Image number: 908
    female
    DE, Chemnitz, Hutholz
    2009-08-02 09:01:34


Classification:
Syritta pipiens belongs to the subfamily Eristalinae, tribe Milesiini.
Distribution:
Becoming cosmopolitan; known from most of the Palaearctic, including North Africa, most of North America, South America and the Oriental region.
Habitat:
Different habitats: preferably open, moist and nutritious biotopes; along the margin of almost any flowing and stagnant freshwater body, also in farmland, gardens and parks.
Description:
Body length 8 - 9 mm; thorax on the sides (pleurae) grayish white dusted; abdomen with 2 - 3 pairs of pale yellow spots; face white, antennae bright red; hind femora strongly thickened; fore and mid femora dorsally with a brown streak of variable proportions; fore and mid tibiae darkened apically.
Biology:
Syritta pipiens flies from March to November, in southern Europe probably all the year round. The adults fly low in the vegetation and visit a wide range of flowering plants.
The larvae of Syritta pipiens live in various types of decaying organic matter, such as plant stalks, foliage, compost heaps and dung, but not in decaying wood or aquatic habitats.
The species probably overwinters as a 3rd instar larva.
Natural Enemies:
Medophron afflictor (Gravenhorst, 1829) and Rhembobius perscrutator (Thunberg, 1822) from the family Ichneumonidae.

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.
  5. Speight, M.C.D. & Sarthou, J.-P. (2014) StN keys for the identification of the European species of various genera of Syrphidae (Diptera) 2014 / Clés StN pour la détermination des espèces Européennes de plusieurs genres des Syrphidae (Diptères) 2014. Syrph the Net, the database of European Syrphidae, Vol. 80, 125 pp, Syrph the Net publications, Dublin