| Celery Fly (Euleia heraclei (Linnaeus, 1758)) |
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Scientific name: Euleia heraclei (Linnaeus, 1758) Common name: Celery Fly Other names: Hogweed French name: Mouche du céleri Order: Diptera Family: Tephritidae Wingspan : 4 to 6 mm. Biotope: Meadows with Umbellifers, gardens with Celery and Parsnip. Geographic area: Europe and central Asia. Observation period : April to November. |
The Celery flies has a development cycle with two generations per year showing slightly different colours. The wings show a typical pattern which is similar on both forms. They are translucent with black markings letting two remaining translucent areas along the costal edge, one small half-rounded next to the base and one larger triangular one at mid-length of the wing. Several black cross stripes extend to touch the inner edge. One is curved along the margin of the wing and makes some kind of a fork shape with the following one. The two next ones join each other next to the middle of the inner edge, letting a small translucent rounded spot (I have seen pictures on which the stripe closer to the base disappears before touching the edge of the wing). The head is yellowish with green eyes showing a reddish sheen. The legs and halters are yellow. The spring from, which emerges late April early May, has a black thorax, scutellum and abdomen. The summer form, which emerges late July and August, has a brownish orange thorax and abdomen. The scutellum is pale yellow. The larvae grow inside large brownish blisters they cause on the leaves of the host plants, Umbellifers, Celery or Parsnip. The Celery fly over winters as a pupa in the soil. |
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I have observed this Celery Fly on an Ivy leaf in my garden. The pattern on the wings makes me confident about the identification of the species. The colour of the thorax and of the abdomen matches the summer form. |
André Bon November 2016
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