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Melangyna ericarum (Collin, 1946)

Identification

Identification difficulty = 4. microscope_icon camera_icon_cross according to Ball & Morris, 20241

Synonymy

Syrphus ericarum Collin in Coe(1953)2.

Biology

The larvae of Melangyna are aphidophagous, but those of M. ericarum are as yet unknown. Adults have been recorded from native Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris woodlands in the Scottish Highlands. They can be swept or found visiting flowers in open rides where they fly low down over the bare edges of tracks and clearings.

Flight period

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

Status

VULNERABLE - Ball & Morris, 20143. Rare (RDB3) - Falk, 19914.

Distribution

A species of the Caledonian pine forests that is largely confined to the Cairngorms, with just a single post-1990 report from Loch Tulloch. dotmap

  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. ↩

  3. 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. ↩

  4. 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. ↩