Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods) ➔ Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods) ➔ Class Insecta (Insects) ➔ Order Diptera (True flies) ➔ Family Syrphidae (Hoverflies)
Volucella bombylans (Linnaeus, 1758)
Hummel-Waldschwebfliege Bumblebee Hoverfly
Synonyms and other combinations: ∇
Classification:
Volucella bombylans belongs to the subfamily Eristalinae, tribe Volucellini.Distribution:
From northern Fennoscandia south to Iberia; from Ireland eastwards through central and southern Europe into Russia and the Caucasus and on to the Pacific coast and Japan; in North America from Alaska to Newfoundland and south to California and Georgia.Habitat:
Forest/wetland: Open areas in humid deciduous forest and Pinus forest, forest edges, edges of fens and raised bogs; evergreen oak forest in southern Europe.Description:
The dense and woolly hairy, bumblebee-like looking Volucella bombylans has a body length of 11 - 17 mm. The arista is plumose. The eyes are hairy. The scutellum has no long bristles near the posterior margin, in contrast to the other species of the genus occurring in Europe. Based on the hair color of the very variable species one distinguishes between different color forms. Volucella bombylans var. bombylans is mostly black and strikingly orange-red hairy at the end of the abdomen. Volucella bombylans var. plumata has a white hairy posterior part of abdomen. The anterior region of the abdomen, the yellow scutellum and the scutum (appearing dark in the middle) are long yellow hairy.Biology:
The Bumblebee Hoverfly Volucella bombylans flies in one generation from May to September.Adults visit the flowers of various composites and umbellifers and blooming trees.
After mating a female lays about 60 eggs. The eggs are usually deposited in the nests of various species of bumblebees (Bombus), but also in Vespula nests.
The larvae live on the bottom of the host's nest and feed on waste and dead host larvae.
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.
- 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
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