Paragus quadrifasciatus Meigen, 1822

Identification

Identification difficulty = 2. according to Ball & Morris, 2024¹

Description

This is a rather distinctive species amongst the European Paragus. It is small and black with distinct bands of white hairs on the eyes, parallel stripes of grey dusting on the thorax, a yellow tipped scutellum and yellow markings on tergites 2 and 3 of the abdomen. It is the only species in Europe with this combination of characters, but there are  other southern European species in the genus with yellow abdominal markings which can be difficult to separate in the field.

Biology

The larvae have been found associated with aphid coloies on Centaurea, Cichorium, Leontodon autumnalis, Onopordon and Rubus. In northern Europe, males often show territorial behaviour around aphid infected Lactuca and Sonchus, growing in ruderal situations. Adults fly in May to October, peaking in July to August.(Speight, 2017)²

Flight period

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

Status

Added to the British list in 2024 by Warry, et al., 2023³ from a specimen photographed in 2023, posted on the UK Hoverflies Facebook Group and its identity recognised by Wout Opdekamp.

Distribution

A widely distributed species in southern Europe which has been increasingly found in north-western Europe in recent years. It was first found in  Belgium in 2000 and, since about 2017, has become well established especially in the north of that country, often in association with railway lines. It was found  on a narrow strip of land between tahe M20 and the Channel Tunnel railway terminal at Cheriton, Kent in July 2023. Follow up visits later in the month failed to locate any more specimens. Given its assocaition with railways in Belgium, it was possibly transported to Britain through the channel tunnel and may turn out to be a one-off.