| Eristalis abusiva (Collin, 1931) |
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Scientific name: Eristalis abusiva (Collin, 1931) Common name: French name: Order: Diptera Family: Syrphidae Wingspan : 8 -11 mm. Biotope: Larvae called rat-tailed maggot live in stagnant putrid water. They feed on bacteria living in water polluted with organic matter. Imagos can be seen on all kinds of flowers. Geographic area: Europe. Observation period : March to October. |
Eristalis abusiva is characterized by its small size among other members of the Eristalis genus. Tergite 2 of the abdomen shows two yellow lateral patches which extend over the hind margin and seem to continue on tergite 3, especially on males. So the dark central patch appears as hourglass-shaped. Females show a thin white stripe on the hind edge of each tergite. The head profile is rounded. The face shows a thin black middle stripe. The arista is slightly feathery near the base. The wings are clear. The eyes are hairy. Eristalis arbustorum is very similar. It does not show any middle stripe on the face. The arista is feathery and tibia 2 is clearly bi-coloured with black colour near the apex. On Eristalis abusiva tibia 2 is almost completely yellow with just some brown colour at the apex. |
| [To know more about the Eristalis abusiva] [Top] |
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The hourglass-shaped mark points to Eristalis arbustorum or Eristalis abusiva. The touching eyes indicate one male. The picture is not sharp enough to see whether the arista is feathery or not and the angle of view does not permit to see any eventual middle stripe on the face. The identification of the Eristalis abusiva species is based on the colour of tibia 2 which appears completely yellow. There is still a small doubt because the black colour of the tibia may be hidden by some yellow pollen. |
André Bon July 2013
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