| Platycheirus discimanus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| female | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Diptera |
| Family: | Syrphidae |
| Subfamily: | Syrphinae |
| Tribe: | Bacchini |
| Genus: | Platycheirus |
| Subgenus: | Platycheirus |
| Species: | P. discimanus |
| Binomial name | |
| Platycheirus discimanus Loew, 1871 | |
Platycheirus discimanus, the Yellowfoot Sedgesitter is a small species of hoverfly. It is found across Europe and the Palearctic and in North America. [1] [2]
For terminology Speight key to genera and glossary
Length:6.2–6.8 mm (0.24–0.27 in)
Diagnosis of MALE: The face projects ventrally and dorsally with shallow median keel or ridges. It is gray pollinose except for the bare tubercle and gena. The posterior oral margin is produced forward. The legs are mostly dark, with the first two tarsomeres of the front and middle legs being pale. The front trochanter has many short, black, ventral setulae, and the front tibia has a fine, wavy pile underneath up to three times the width of the tibia. The first front tarsomere is subtriangular, truncate apically, about twice as wide as the apex of the tibia, and as long as wide. The second front tarsomere is nearly rectangular, three-fourths as wide as the first tarsomere and one-fourth as long. The other front tarsomeres are not modified. The middle tibia has dense, wavy anteroventral pile on the basal third, at the longest approximately four times the tibial diameter, and similar but fewer posterior pile on the middle third. The first middle tarsomere is laterally compressed, more than twice as deep as wide, while the second tarsomere is less strongly compressed. The remaining middle tarsomeres are unmodified. The first tarsomere of the hind leg is strongly swollen, about three times as long as its deepest point. The legs are otherwise unmodified. The thorax has dense pile, as long as the arista, and varies from white to dark brown. It is thinly gray pollinose, with bare shining areas between upper and lower pile patches on the katepisternum and on the anterior half of the posterior anepisternum. The halter is yellow, and the wing is completely microtrichose. The abdomen is narrow, with spots of tergites gray and overlaid with strong silver pollinosity. external image
Female: The female is not distinguishable from other species of Platycheirus. [3] [4]
Palearctic: South Norway south to Belgium and France and the Alps, Ireland east through Northern Europe and Central Europe into Russia and on through Siberia to the Russian Far East and the Pacific coast at Sakhalin, Afghanistan, Mongolia and China. Nearctic: Central Canada and Pennsylvania Fauna Europaea. [10] [4]
Habitat: It lives in deciduous forest and scrub; scrub-invaded grassland. Flies April to end May. [11]
Platycheirus clypeatus is a species of hoverfly. It is found across the Palearctic and in the Nearctic. The larvae feed on aphids. Adults are usually found on the edges of woodland or scrub, heath or along hedgerows where they visit a wide range of flowers.
Platycheirus is a large genus of hoverflies. They are also called sedgesitters. The genus Platycheirus was established in 1828 by Lepeletier and Serville, with the type specimen of Syrphus scutatus Meigen. This genus is primarily Holarctic in distribution, encompassing 70 species within the Nearctic region. Notably, at least 23 of these Nearctic species are also found in the Palearctic realm, with their approximately 110 species.The distribution of Platycheirus is markedly boreal, with half of the 70 Nearctic species in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, or Alaska. The genus is widespread from Mexico, Central and South America, Europe, Asia, Southeast Asia, Platycheirus are not found in Australia, Indonesia and New Guinea. The genus has a variety of food choices for larvae, ranging from generalized aphid predators to species that specialize in feeding on one or two specific aphid species. Most are feeding within the ground layer of leaf litter.
Platycheirus scambus is a species of hoverfly. It is a Holarctic species.
Platycheirus scutatus is a very common species of hoverfly. It is a Holarctic species.
Platycheirus albimanus is a common widespread species of hoverfly. A holarctic species its range includes Greenland, Iceland, Britain, mainland Europe, Russia, across Siberia to the pacific coast, the Philippines, Alaska, western Canada and United States.
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 manicatus is a species of hoverfly. It is found across the Palearctic and in Alaska.
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.
Platycheirus rosarum is a species of hoverfly found in the Holarctic realm. Like its close relative Platycheirus granditarsus, it can be found in marshy meadows and ditches; indeed, the two species can often be found together. The flight time is between May and October, though it peaks in abundance in June and July.
Platycheirus amplus the Broadhand Sedgesitter is a rare Holarctic species of hoverfly found in wetlands, fens, moorland streams and bogs.
Platycheirus angustatus is a species of hoverfly. It is found in many parts of the Palearctic, and in the Nearctic.
Platycheirus immarginatus, the Comb-legged Sedgesitter, is a common species of hoverfly. It is found in parts of northern Europe and northern North America.
Platycheirus perpallidus is a species of hoverfly. It is a Holarctic species.
Platycheirus podagratus is a species of hoverfly. It is found in the Holarctic.
Platycheirus confusus, the Confusing Sedgesitter, is a common species of syrphid fly in the family Syrphidae. It has been found to have and eastern and western North American population. Larvae have been successfully reared on a diet of Adelges piceae.
Blera confusa, the confusing wood fly, is a common species of syrphid fly first officially described by Johnson, 1913 Hoverflies get their names from the ability to remain nearly motionless while in flight. The adults are also known as flower flies for they are commonly found around and on flowers, from which they get both energy-giving nectar and protein-rich pollen. The larvae are of the rat-tailed type feeding on exuding sap or in the rot holes of trees.
Platycheirus aeratus, commonly known as Coquillett's sedgesitter, is a species of hoverfly.
Eristalis brousii, also known as the hourglass drone fly, is a fly species in the Syrphidae family first described by Samuel Wendell Williston in 1882. The species has become largely extinct outside of Northern Canada. Eristalis brousii are part of the hoverfly family, known for hovering above flowers to collect nectar and pollen.
Platycheirus alpigenus is a rare high mountain species of fly. Platycheirus can remain nearly motionless in flight. Adults are also known as flower flies for they are commonly found on flowers from which they get both energy-giving nectar and protein rich pollen. Larvae unknown for this species but Platycheirus are generally aphid predators.
Platycheirus ciliatus, the Pacific sedgesitter, is a species of hoverfly. They have been found in Canada: British Columbia. USA: Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington. Larvae are unknown.
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