A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Syritta pipiens
Black hoverfly with a thin light band, broken band and a thick broken band at the top of the abdomen. The thick band has orange coloring on the outside portions. Only shot I was able to get before it took off. Bad pic but I haven't seen this pattern before. "Distinctive feature in both sexes is the apical third of the hind femur having a row of spines along the ventral edge (see close-up photo from Insects of Cedar Creek); another good field mark is the pair of pale wedge-shaped spots on anterior margin of thorax behind the head. Male: femur 3 strongly thickened, but hardly bent, basally without protuberance; tergite 2-3 with small, pale spots. Female: Ocellar triangle black or bluish, metallic shining; thoracic dorsum dusted along side margin; tergite 4: side and hind margins not dusted."
Above damp soil at freshly cut Strelitzia nicolai in backyard. "all of United States and southern Canada (absent from the arctic). Also occurs in Mexico, Eurasia, and the Orient"
Submitted to BugGuide
Spotted on Sep 21, 2013
Submitted on Sep 21, 2013
No Comments