"

Melangyna compositarum (Verrall, 1873)

Identification

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

Biology

The larva is unknown. Adults are associated with coniferous woodlands and plantations where they can be found visiting flowers, especially Hogweed Heracleum sphondylium and Wild Angelica Angelica sylvestris, in rides and glades. Males hover fairly high at the edges of stands of trees.

Flight period

The following plots show the number of unique records per week that were not reported to be of eggs, larvae or pupae.

Distribution

There is considerable confusion between this species and M. labiatarum, and many recorders do not attempt to distinguish between the two. This species is said to be the more northerly of the pair, with most records from Scotland, but scattered records throughout Britain.

Trends

The following plots show the Frescalo TFactor vs year and a map of the rescaled frequency (all records) for the species. For an explanation see here.