Hoverflies, also called flower flies or syrphids, make up the insect family Syrphidae. As their common name suggests, they are often seen hovering or nectaring at flowers; the adults of many species feed mainly on nectar and pollen, while the larvae (maggots) eat a wide range of foods. In some species, the larvae are saprotrophs, eating decaying plant and animal matter in the soil or in ponds and streams. In other species, the larvae are insectivores and prey on aphids, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects.
Eristalinae are one of the four subfamilies of the fly family Syrphidae, or hoverflies. A well-known species included in this subfamily is the dronefly, Eristalis tenax.
Criorhina berberina is a species of hoverfly. It is found in the Palaearctic from Fennoscandia South to Iberia and Italy. Ireland eastwards through Europe into Turkey and European Russia . C. berberina is a bumblebee mimic. The body has uniformly long dense pubescence, obscuring the ground-colour. There are two forms one with the pubescence more or less extensively blackish, one in which it is entirely yellow or tawny. Criorhina differ from other bumblebee mimics - Mallota, Arctophila, Pocota and Brachypalpus by the form of their antennae: the first segments are thin and form a stalk, the third segment is shorter than it is wide. In Criorhina, the face projects downwards, in contrast to Pocota and Brachypalpus.
Baccha elongata is a species of hoverfly in the genus Baccha.
Cheilosia pagana is a Holarctic species of hoverfly. Like most Cheilosia it is black, and because of this may often be overlooked as a hoverfly. One identifying feature is a large red to orange 3rd antennal segment.
Platycheirus granditarsus, the Hornhand Sedgesitter, is a species of hoverfly. It is found in many parts of Britain North America and Europe. Typical habitat includes marshy meadows and ditches, where it can be found between May and October, though it is at its commonest between July and September. The most distinctive feature of this fly is the red-orange abdomen most easily seen as it takes off or alights.
Platycheirus occultus is a Palearctic species of hoverfly.
Pelecocera is a Holarctic genus of Hoverflies, from the family Syrphidae, in the order Diptera. Antennae with segment 3 a half moon shape or triangular, in the female the arista very thick, spike-like, inserted at the anterior extremity of segment 3. They are small black and yellow or orange flies found mainly on heaths.
Eristalis cryptarum is a holarctic species of hoverfly. Known as the bog hoverfly or bog-dwelling drone fly, it is a bog specialist but may occur in other wetlands. Its larvae are assumed to live in peat that is saturated with water, such as that found in these boggy areas. The female has been observed depositing eggs on and close to very fresh cow dung along oligotrophic seepages in moorland.
Cheilosia grossa is a widespread European species of hoverfly. Adults can be found in spring on sallow catkins and the larvae tunnel in the stems of various thistle species.
Pipiza noctiluca is a species of Hoverfly, from the family Syrphidae, in the order Diptera.
Parasyrphus vittiger is a species of hoverfly, from the family Syrphidae, in the order Diptera.
Cheilosia nebulosa is a Palearctic species of hoverfly.
Pelecocera tricincta is a species of hoverfly, from the family Syrphidae.
Cheilosia scutellata is a Palearctic hoverfly.
Lejogaster tarsata is a Palearctic hoverfly
Neoascia obliqua is a Palearctic species of hoverfly.
Callicera rufa is a Palearctic hoverfly.
Chamaesyrphus caledonicus is a Palearctic hoverfly.
