Eristalis rupium Fabricius, 1805
Identification
Identification difficulty = 3. 
according to Ball & Morris, 20241
Biology
The larva is of the 'long-tailed' type and is apparently found in clean-water situations, such as spring-fed permanent streams. Adults are usually found in fairly open situations such as wet meadows and streamsides with abundant flowers, often in the uplands (to about 300m). They can sometimes be found in glades in conifer plantations where flowers are abundant.
Flight period
The following plots show the number of unique records per week excluding those reported to be of immature stages.
Status
Was listed as 'Notable' by Falk, 19912, but dropped from this status by Ball & Morris, 20143 who consider it LOWER RISK.
Distribution
This is a northern and western species which can be very local, even in apparently suitable areas. Care is needed in identification as it can be confused with E. horticola.
Trends
The following plots show the Frescalo TFactor vs year and a map of the rescaled frequency (all records) for the species.
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Ball, S., & Morris, R. (2024). Hoverflies of Britain and Ireland. WILDGuides (3rd ed.). Oxford: Princeton University Press. ↩
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Falk, S. (1991). A review of the scarce and threatened flies of Great Britain. ( No. 39). Research and Survey in Nature Conservation (pp. 1–194). Peterborough: NCC. ↩
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Ball, S., & Morris, R. (2014). A review of the scarce and threatened flies of Great Britain. Part 6: Syrphidae. ( No. 9). Species status (pp. 1–130). Peterborough: JNCC. ↩