Platycheirus hesperius

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Platycheirus hesperius
Platycheirus hesperius female head.png
female head
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Syrphidae
Subfamily: Syrphinae
Tribe: Bacchini
Genus: Platycheirus
Species:
P. hesperius
Binomial name
Platycheirus hesperius
(Vockeroth, 1986 ) [1]
Synonyms
  • Melanostoma chaetopoda (Davidson, 1922 )

Platycheirus hesperius, commonly known as the southern punctate sedgesitter, [2] is a fly in the Syrphidae family. It is a rare species, found in the western US, ranging from Washington to southern California. [3] Adults are also referred to as flower flies because they are commonly found on flowers, where they feed on nectar and pollen. They are also called hoverflies due to their ability to remain nearly motionless in flight.

Description

Figure 1 P. hesperius male front leg Platycheirus hesperius male front leg.png
Figure 1
P. hesperius male front leg
Figure 2 P. hesperius male head Platycheirus hesperius male head.png
Figure 2
P. hesperius male head
Figure 3 P. hesperius female body Platycheirus hesperius female body.png
Figure 3
P. hesperius female body
Size
5.7–7.9 mm (0.22–0.31 in)
Head
The face has a narrow black shining median stripe along the tubercle featuring small punctures arranged in oblique rows covered with a greyish pollinosity (dusting). (figure 2)
Legs
The legs have dark femora, and all the tibiae and tarsi are yellow (figure3). The fore and mid-tarsomeres are brown above and orange ventrally. The fore-tibia has a row of 5-7 strong posterior setae on the apical three-quarters, with the longest setae approximately three times the tibial diameter. (figure 1) The mid tibia has a similar row of weaker setae on the apical two-thirds, while the legs are otherwise unmodified.
Abdomen
The abdomen has large spots of brown or grey on the tergites, overlaid with strong silver dusting, which can almost touch in the center on tergites 3 and 4. (figure 3). [1] [4]

References

  1. 1 2 Vockeroth, J. R. (1990). "Revision of the Nearctic species of Platycheirus (Diptera, Syrphidae)". Canadian Entomologist. 122 (4): 659–766. doi:10.4039/Ent122659-7.
  2. ↑ "Southern Punctate Sedgesitter(Platycheirus hesperius)". inaturalist. Retrieved 23 January 2025.
  3. ↑ Vockeroth, J. R. (1992). The Flower Flies of the Subfamily Syrphinae of Canada, Alaska, and Greenland (Diptera: Syrphidae). Part 18. The Insects and Arachnids of Canada (PDF). Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Government Pub Centre. pp. 1–456.
  4. ↑ Young, Andrew D.; Marshall, Stephen A.; Skevington, Jeffrey H. (17 February 2016). "Revision of Platycheirus Lepeletier and Serville (Diptera: Syrphidae) in the Nearctic north of Mexico". Zootaxa. 4082 (1): 34. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4082.1.1. ISSN   1175-5334. PMID   27394216. Creative Commons by small.svg  This article incorporates textfrom this source, which is available under the CC BY 3.0 license.
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