Melanostoma mellarium (Meigen, 1822)

Identification

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

Synonymy

Added to the British List by Haarto & Ståhls (2014). This species has previously been confused with M. mellinum and is very similar to it. The differences are subtle and males are more readily separated. Speight provides a key in Hoverfly Newsletter 58 (2015). It typically occurs alongside M. mellinum and M. scalare.

Biology

Details not known, assumed to be very similar to other Melanostoma species.

Flight period

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

Distribution

Martin Speight has recorded it from Co. Clare Ireland. Steven Falk records it from the Cairngorms, including the pinewoods of Rothiemurchus Forest, the old Aspen woodland beside Insh Marshes and the woodland-heathland mosaic of Glen Feshie.