Platycheirus scambus (Staeger, 1843)

Identification

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

Biology

The larva feeds on aphids within the ground layer. Found in damp grassland including saltmarsh, poor fen and the fringes of marshes, often where there is some shelter from trees or scrub. Adults fly amongst stands of tall vegetation and are rarely found far from the edges of water. They will visit a wide range of flowers and males hover near flowering shrubs, such as sallows Salix sp., near water.

Flight period

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

Distribution

Locally abundant in Scotland and northern England, and more widespread than was thought in the south, including the Midlands, west Wales and south-west England. Records from southern England need careful scrutiny as misidentification is possible.

Trends

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