Family Syrphidae Scientific name Baccha elongata | Order Diptera Genus Baccha Rank Species | |
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Similar Baccha, Epistrophe, Melanostoma scalare, Chrysotoxum cautum, Melanostoma mellinum | ||
Eristalinus aeneus baccha elongata hoverflies on ivy
Baccha elongata is a species of hoverfly (or flower fly) in the genus Baccha. The long, very slender body of this hoverfly is unmistakable. Members of the eristaline genus Sphegina are also very slender and can be found in similar habitat but those flies have a rather different enlarged hind femur, whereas in Baccha this feature is slender. As with most hoverfly species the sexes can be told apart by the male's eyes meeting on the top of the head, but separated in the female. One of the smaller hoverflies the wing length is around 4.5 to 8 mm.
Contents
As with most other members of the subfamily Syrphinae the larvae are predatory though there seems to be a preference for a variety of different ground-layer aphids.
This species overwinters as a larva and can be seen on the wing from spring until autumn. Generally it can be found in shady places low to the ground in woodlands and along hedgerows.
Common and widely distributed throughout Britain and Ireland wherever there is suitable habitat though easily overlooked due to its unobtrusive nature. Further afield the range includes the western palearctic and North America.
Hoverfly baccha elongata
