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Trichopsomyia flavitarsis (Meigen, 1822)

Identification

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

Synonymy

Parapenium flavitarsis (Meigen, 1822) in Coe(1953)2 and Kloet & Hincks (1976)3.

Biology

The larva develops on the psyllid Livia juncorum in the galls that this insect forms on Jointed Rush Juncus articulatus. Adults fly low amongst dense vegetation and visit low-growing flowers, such as Tormentil Potentilla erecta. They occur in fens, rushy meadows and boggy areas in moorland including Bog Myrtle Myrica gale stands and Purple Moorgrass Molinia caerulea grasslands. Males hover in small groups near shelter, such as bushes.

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

Distribution

Locally abundant where suitable habitat occurs, extending well above the tree line in the Scottish Highlands. Field experience suggests that this species is more frequent in the north and west of Britain, but this is not obvious from the map, which may reflect lower levels of recording in these areas. In southern Britain it is much more restricted by the availability of its habitat, but can still be found in suitable localities. dotmap

Trends

The following plots show the Frescalo TFactor vs year and a map of the rescaled frequency (all records) for the species. For an explanation see here. trend

  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. Kloet, G., & Hinks, W. (1976). A check list of British insects. 2nd Ed. Part 5: Diptera and Siphonaptera. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, 11, 1–139. ↩