Triglyphus primus Loew, 1840

Identification

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

Biology

The range of habitats is broad, but generally points to an association with thermophilic environments including heathland, brownfield sites and dry grasslands. The larva is aphidophagous and appear to be specific to the galls induced by the aphid Cryptosiphum artimisae on Mugwort Artemisia vulgaris. Adults are elusive, but tend to be found visiting flowers. Very occasionally they can be numerous, visiting flowers of Wild Parsnip Pastinaca sativa and Wild Carrot Daucus carota.

Flight period

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

Status

Lower Risk (Nationally scarce) - Ball & Morris, 20142. Notable - Falk, 19913.

Distribution

Rather scarce and local in south-east Britain from around Dorset and Wiltshire eastwards, and north to about a line between the Mersey and the Humber. A number of recent records are associated with urban waste ground and field edges. Distribution map for Triglyphus primus

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 Triglyphus primus

  1. Ball, S., & Morris, R. (2024). Hoverflies of Britain and Ireland. WILDGuides (3rd ed.). Oxford: Princeton University Press. ↩

  2. Ball, S., & Morris, R. (2014). A review of the scarce and threatened flies of Great Britain. Part 6: Syrphidae. ( No. 9). Species status (pp. 1–130). Peterborough: JNCC. ↩

  3. Falk, S. (1991). A review of the scarce and threatened flies of Great Britain. ( No. 39). Research and Survey in Nature Conservation (pp. 1–194). Peterborough: NCC. ↩