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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » Aschiza » Syrphid Flies (Syrphidae)

Family Syrphidae - Syrphid Flies

Classification · Other Common Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Food · Life Cycle · See Also · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited
dot-tailed flower fly - Sphaerophoria - male hover fly - Blera big black fly, dorsal view - Copestylum mexicanum Underbark fly expupates - Chalcosyrphus libo Which scribble-eyed fly? - Orthonevra Toxermus? - Sphaerophoria - male Syrphid Fly ? and it's prey? Syrphids - male - female
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon (Aschiza)
Family Syrphidae (Syrphid Flies)
Other Common Names
Flower Flies
Hover Flies
Numbers
Arnett, p. 884 lists 91 genera and 874 species. (1)
Size
1-35 mm, typically 10-20 mm
Identification
Flies often seen about flowers. Bodies often have black-and-yellow bands, presumably mimicking hymenoptera. Some even buzz like bees. (They do not bite or sting, however.) Family can be recognized by spurious wing vein, see, for example, Arnett, fig. 29.40, p. 888 (1) and photos/diagrams:
Food
Adults often feed on nectar and/or pollen.
Life Cycle
Larvae may feed on decaying vegetation, aquatic detritus, or wet wood, others are predators, especially of aphids. Some larvae are myrmecophiles, i.e., live in ant nests, and a few are associated with wasps. A few attack living plants, especially bulbs of forbs. Larvae that live in water with much decaying organic matter have a long anal breathing tube, and are called "rat-tailed maggots".
See Also
Bee Flies
Print References
Arnett, pp. 884-887 (1)
Swan and Papp, pp. 618-620 (1)
Borror and White, pp. 281-282 (2)
Internet References
Insects of Cedar Creek has a good page on this family, with links to many images.
Genera of Flower Flies
World of Syrphidae--European emphasis
Field Guide to the Syrphidae of Ontario
Cirrus Images--photos
Buglife European emphasis
Wikipedia
Univ. Kentucky Critter Case Files--Flower Flies--diagram shows spurious wing vein
Works Cited
1.American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico
By Ross H. Arnett
2.A Field Guide to Insects
By Richard E. White, Donald J. Borror, Roger Tory Peterson
Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Beatriz Moisset
Last updated 18 November, 2008 - 8:41am

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