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Brachyopa scutellaris Robineau-Desvoidy, 1843

Identification

Identification difficulty = 3. microscope_icon camera_icon_cross according to Ball & Morris, 20241

Synonymy

Prior to 1939 the only listed British species was B. bicolor. The additional species were not covered by a widely available key until Coe(1953)2. Consequently, records prior to 1953 must be based on verifiable specimens.

Biology

The larva occurs in sap runs or accumulations of sap under bark near the base of trees, including Ash Fraxinus excelsior, Aspen Populus tremula, Yew Taxus baccata and Elm Ulmus sp. Adults are most often found flying around sun-lit bases of trees and can sometimes occur in considerable numbers. It seems as though this species has a relatively short emergence period.

Flight period

The following plots show the number of unique records per week excluding those reported to be of immature stages. Phenology plots for Brachyopa scutellaris

Distribution

A very widespread species that is primarily found in lowland woodlands. It occurs widely throughout England and Wales and more sporadically in Scotland. Distribution map for Brachyopa scutellaris

Trends

The following plots show the Frescalo TFactor vs year and a map of the rescaled frequency (all records) for the species.Trend plots for Brachyopa scutellaris

  1. Ball, S., & Morris, R. (2024). Hoverflies of Britain and Ireland. WILDGuides (3rd ed.). Oxford: Princeton University Press. ↩

  2. Coe, R. (1953). Diptera: Syrphidae. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, 10(1), 1–98. ↩