Eristalis flavipes

Eristalis flavipes, the orange-legged drone fly, is a species of hoverfly native to North America.[1] It flies from early April to mid-October, and occurs in a wide variety of habitats, particularly wetlands. Hoverflies get their names from the ability to remain nearly motionless while in flight. The adults are also known as flower flies for they are commonly found around and on flowers, from which they get both energy-giving nectar and protein-rich pollen. The larvae are aquatic filter-feeders of the rat-tailed type.[1]

Eristalis flavipes
Female
Male
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Diptera
Family:
Syrphidae
Subfamily:
Eristalinae
Tribe:
Eristalini
Subtribe:
Eristalina
Genus:
Eristalis
Species:
E. flavipes
Binomial name
Eristalis flavipes
Walker, 1849
Synonyms
  • Eristalis americanus Loew, 1866
  • Eristalis melanostomus Hull, 1925
  • Eristalis rufipilis Osten Sacken, 1878
  • Musca tomentosa Gott, 1964

Description

Eristalis flavipes strongly resembles a bumblebee.
For terms see Morphology of Diptera. It is 13 to 17 mm long.

Head

The face, cheeks (gena) and facial stripe are shining black with short yellow pile. The antennae are dark brown and plumose basally. The eyes are broadly contiguous in the male, with eye pile confined mostly to a vertical stripe.

Thorax

The mesonotum, pleurae, and scutellum, with very abundant, long, bright yellow pile over shining black except the center of the nearly hairless mesonotum. The scutellum is wholly light yellow.

Abdomen

The abdomen is a deep shining black with the second segment dark red and covered with long black hairs with some yellow hairs intermixed.

Wings

The wings are hyaline with luteous veins. The female has a large brown spot at the central part of wing. The wing veination: includes a sinuous r4+5 vein, a closed cell r1. The anterior cross- vein (r-m) is oblique and near the middle of discal cell (dm).

Legs

The legs are deep black, with black pile. Joints are reddish the anterior tarsi are brown, the middle and posterior tarsi are light reddish-yellow. The hind femora are somewhat elongate. The hind tibiae are bent. [2][3]

  • Eristalis wing
    Eristalis wing
  • Insect leg
    Insect leg
  • Eristalis head
    Eristalis head
  • Syrphid antenna
    Syrphid antenna
  • Dorsal view of Syrphid thorax
    Dorsal view of Syrphid thorax

References
  1. Skevington, Jeffrey H.; Locke, Michelle M.; Young, Andrew D.; Moran, Kevin; Crins, William J.; Marshall, Stephen A. (2019). Field Guide to the Flower Flies of Northeastern North America. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691189406.
  2. Williston, S.W. (1887). "Synopsis of the North American Syrphidae". Bulletin of the United States National Museum. 31: 1–335.
  3. Hull, Frank Montgomery (1925). "A Review of the Genus Eristalis Latreille in North America". The Ohio Journal of Science. 25: 11–45. hdl:1811/2257.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

Further reading
  • Ross H. Arnett (30 July 2000). American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico. CRC Press. ISBN 978-0-8493-0212-1.
  • Eristalis (Diptera: Syrphidae) from America North of Mexico, Telford H.S. 1970. Ann. Ent. Soc. Am. 63(5): 1201–1210.


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