Tapered Drone Fly Lat. “Eristalis pertinax“

Eristalis pertinax is a European hoverfly. Like Eristalis tenax, the larva of E. pertinax is a rat-tailed maggot and lives in drainage ditches, pools around manure piles, sewage, and similar places containing water badly polluted with organic matter.

Description

External images For terms see Morphology of Diptera Wing length is 8.25–12.75 mm. Antennomere 3 brown-black. Arista plumose to tip. Tarsi 1 and 2 entirely yellow. Wing with diffusely bordered darkened median band and pterostigma four times as long as wide. Dimorphic (males with triangular abdomen, females with squarish abdomen). The male genitalia are figured by Hippa et al. (2001). The larva is figured by Hartley (1961).

Distribution

Palaearctic: Fennoscandia south to Iberia and the Mediterranean basin. Ireland, east through Europe to Turkey and European Russia, east to the Urals.

Biology

The habitat is wetland, forest, alluvial forest, fen, farmland, suburban gardens and parks. The flight period is February to November.

Gallery

Ancestry Graph

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