Eupeodes perplexus
| Eupeodes perplexus | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Diptera |
| Family: | Syrphidae |
| Genus: | Eupeodes |
| Subgenus: | Metasyrphus |
| Species: | E. perplexus
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| Binomial name | |
| Eupeodes perplexus (Osburn) 1910
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| Synonyms | |
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Eupeodes perplexus the Bare-winged Aphideater, is a common species of hoverfly. Adults feed on nectar; larvae feed on aphids and scale insects.[1] [2] [3]
Description
- Head
The frons of both sexes not unusually puffed out. The third segment of antennae (flagellum) is exceptionally large. The pile of the face dominantly pale head hemispherical; face slightly concave below antennae, tuberculate, whitish-yellow, with black cheeks and dark median vitta over tubercle; antennae short, third joint oval; dark crescent-shaped spot over base of each antenna; eyes bare. Males Frontal spots usually definite, pile of face white. Females Front with side dust spots and brown to black spots adjacent to the antennae. Pile of face pale, eyes practically bare, face with a definite median black vitta reaching well over the tubercle
- Thorax
The metasternum and pleura are covered with white pile. The scutellum is raised, exposing the metanotum. The anterior anepisternum, meron, and metepisternum are bare. For males the pile of scutellum yellow or black or mixed, but in females the pile is mostly black.
- Abdomen
The abdominal spots are yellow, finger-like wide, curved and interrupted in the middle. The first segment is very narrow and all black. The spots on the second segment do not reach the sides. In the females, abdominal bands are broader. The fifth segment is yellow, sometimes with a small median black spot. The spots on segments three and four are very slightly lunate with the posterior margins of fourth and fifth segments narrowly yellow.
- Wings
The wings are hyaline. The third longitudinal vein (R4+5) is only slightly curved. The marginal cell (r1) is open with the anterior cross-vein (R-M) located near the base of discal cell. The stigma is thin, long and brown. Legs: The legs are mainly pale reddish. The base of femora are black, with the hind femora black on the basal half or more.[2]
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abdomen E. perplexus -
thorax -
Insect leg -
syrphid head -
wing diagram
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Distribution
Palaearctic Distributed across North America and Canada. See map.
Similar species
Eupeodes perplexus has a few similar looking species. Two keys are available online: Fluke with a North American Key from 1952, [3] and from Vockeroth with a more currant, 1992, key to Canadian Eupeodes [2] may be useful in separating this species from the approximate twenty-four other species found in North America. Melangyna lasiophthalma can be told from E.perplexus because in M.lasiophthalma the abdominal spots reach the lateral margin of the abdomen while in E. perplexum they do not.
In Scaeva pyrastri The third wing vein vein ( R4+5) has a long, moderately deep curvature. The spots on the abdomen are more curved and slightly constricted in the middle unlike those in E. perplexus.
References
- ^ Heiss, Elizabeth Madeleine (1938). "A classification of the larvae and puparia of the Syrphidae of Illinois exclusive of aquatic forms". Series: Illinois biological monographs. 16: 1–142.
- ^ a b c Vockeroth, J.R. (1992). The Flower Flies of the Subfamily Syrphinae of Canada, Alaska, and Greenland (Diptera: Syrphidae). Part 18. The Insects and Arachnids of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Government Pub Centre. pp. 1–456. ISBN 0-660-13830-1.
- ^ a b Fluke, C. L (1952). "The Metasyrphus Species of North America". The American Museum of Natural History. 1590: 1–27.