Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Syrphidae Scientific name Cheilosia variabilis | Phylum Arthropoda Order Diptera Genus Cheilosia Rank Species | |
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Similar Cheilosia albitarsis, Cheilosia pagana, Cheilosia albipila, Cheilosia illustrata, Cheilosia impressa | ||
Cheilosia variabilis 2
Cheilosia variabilis is a European species of hoverfly. Like most Cheilosia it is black, and because of this may often be overlooked as a hoverfly.
Contents
Cheilosia variabilis pest enka obecn
Description
External images For terms see Morphology of Diptera
Winglength 9-12 mm.Large blackish species.Face with conspicuous central knob.Antennae black.Arista with hairs longer than diameter of basal part.Thorax black-haired.Tergites pale yellow-haired.Elongate abdomen.Male halteres pale brown. The larva is figured by Dusek (1962).
Distribution
Present in most of Europe and in the East Palearctic ecozone. Eastwards to West Siberia.
Biology
Habitat: deciduous forest, from the Fagus Picea zone to alluvial hardwood forest, tracksides, edges of clearings. Adult flies are found from April to September in two generations.They visit flowers of white umbellifers,Aegopodium podagraria, Alliaria petiolata, Anthriscus sylvestris, Apiaceae, Aurinia saxatilis, Conium maculatum, Crataegus laevigata, Euphorbia cyparissias, Meum athamanticum, Potentilla reptans, Ranunculus repens, Salix spec., Sambucus nigra, Caltha, Cirsium, Galium, Scrophularia, Sorbus aucuparia. The larvae are miners in the rhizomes of Scrophularia nodosa and in the stalks of Scrophularia auriculata.