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Parasyrphus lineola (Zetterstedt, 1843)

Identification

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

Synonymy

Syrphus lineola Zetterstedt in Coe(1953)2.

Biology

The larva is an arboreal predator of adelgids and aphids and has been found in the crowns of Spruce Picea sp. It has also been bred from a puparium found under the bark of Norway Spruce Picea abies. Adults are usually found in or near conifer forests and plantations (Pinus, Picea and Abies) where they may be largely arboreal, but descend to feed on flowers in rides and clearings.

Flight period

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

Distribution

Widespread and locally common. This species is probably more frequent in the north and west, extending to northern Scotland, but also occurs in conifer plantations in the Midlands and southern England. Distribution map for Parasyrphus lineola

Trends

The following plots show the Frescalo TFactor vs year and a map of the rescaled frequency (all records) for the species.Trend plots for Parasyrphus lineola

  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. ↩