Identification difficulty = 3.
according to Ball & Morris, 20241
The larva has been found in decaying roots of cultivated Globe Artichoke Cynara scolymus in France. Adults are usually found visiting flowers of white umbels such as Hogweed Heracleum sphondylium in open deciduous and coniferous woodland and unimproved grassland, usually on well drained soils.
The following plots show the number of unique records per week excluding those reported to be of immature stages.
This is primarily a southern species that is commonest south of a line from the Wash to the Severn. There is also a strong concentration of records from the Welsh borders and a few scattered records from Yorkshire into Scotland.
The following plots show the Frescalo TFactor vs year and a map of the rescaled frequency (all records) for the species.
Ball, S., & Morris, R. (2024). Hoverflies of Britain and Ireland. WILDGuides (3rd ed.). Oxford: Princeton University Press. ↩