Taxonomy
Melangyna arctica
Distribution
Species Biology
Preferred environment
Forest; both coniferous forest (Abies/Picea, Pinus) and plantations and wet deciduous woodland (Alnus/Betula/Salix) up to the altitude of Larix forest; Alnus viridis scrub. As in continental Europe, M. arctica occurs in Ireland in association with both wet deciduous woodland (Alnus/Salix) and with conifers - in this case with commercial conifer plantations. M. arctica also occurs here in birch scrub on bogs. But it is unclear whether the larvae can develop feeding on aphids on Betula, or if other tree species in the vicinity are supporting it e.g. Salix. Certainly, M. arctica must develop with the aphids occurring on a wider range of tree genera than Alnus (the only genus from which is has been reared so far), including various genera of conifers.
Adult habitat & habits
Largely arboreal, but descends to visit flowers.
Flight period
April/June (and July/August at higher altitudes). Larva: described and figured by Rotheray (1988a) from larvae collected on Alnus, and figured in colour and separated from larvae of some other Melangyna species in the keys of Rotheray (1994).
Flowers visited
Acer pseudoplatanus,Galium, Ilex, Prunus spinosa, Ranunculus, Salix, Stellaria, Taraxacum.
Irish reference specimens
In the collections of NMI and UM
Determination
Speight (1988a); Bartsch et al (2009a). The male terminalia are figured by Hippa (1978). The adult insect is illustrated in colour by Haarto and Kerppola (2007a), Stubbs and Falk (1983) and Bartsch et al (2009a).
Distribution
World distribution(GBIF)
Fennoscandia, Britain and Ireland (where it is generally distributed), Schwarzwald (Germany), the Czech Republic, France (Pyrenees and Alps), Switzerland, Liechtenstein. It is also known from much of northern and central Siberia, through to Kamchatka. In N America it is known from Alaska and Canada, and down through the Rocky mountains to as far as Colorado. This is a Holarctic species, frequent in northern Europe and mountainous parts of central Europe and occurring through much of Siberia to the Pacific.
Irish distribution
Recorded as occurring in Ireland in Coe (1953). M.arctica seems to be rather localised in Ireland, with most records from the north-west of the island, the south-west and Wicklow/Kildare. Nonetheless, it is by no means threatened here and its repeated occurrence in conifer plantations suggests it is unlikely to become threatened in the immediate future.
Temporal change
Records submitted to Data Centre in 2024
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References
Publications
Speight, M. C. D. (2008) Database of Irish Syrphidae
(Diptera). Irish Wildlife Manuals, No. 36. National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dublin, Ireland.
Speight, M.C.D. (2014) Species accounts of European
Syrphidae (Diptera), 2014. Syrph the Net, the database of European Syrphidae,
vol. 78, 321 pp., Syrph the Net publications, Dublin.