Taxonomy

Meliscaeva cinctella

Distribution

Species Biology

Preferred environment

Forest and scrub, both deciduous and coniferous and conifer plantations; to a significant extent anthropophilic, occurring also in hedgerows and suburban gardens and parks. Found in association with most types of deciduous forest and woodland occurring in Ireland and with conifer plantations. M. cinctella is often found in the vicinity of Ulex thickets and it seems likely that its larvae may use aphids on this shrub as food, though this has not been demonstrated. In continental Europe, this species is more frequently found with conifers than it is in Ireland.

Flight period

April/September, with peaks in May/June and August and occasional specimens on into assuming that the definitions of the larvae of Meliscaeva species incorporated into Rotheray's (1994) keys are correct, the description of the larva of this species provided by Dixon (1960) relates to M. auricollis, and her description of the larva of M. auricollis relates to M. cinctellus (see also notes relating to the larva of M. auricollis, in the account of that species). Branquart (1999) provides extensive information on the developmental stages of this species under laboratory conditions, and shows that development time (from egg-laying to eclosion of adult) can be as little as 4 weeks. The larva is aphid feeding, on bushes, shrubs, for example Sarrothamnus - Dixon (1960) as M. auricollis - and trees; Kula (1982) records larvae of this species as overwintering among leaf litter on the floor of spruce (Picea) forest.

Flowers visited

White umbellifers; Acer pseudoplatanus, Crataegus, Euphorbia, Ilex, Ligustrum, Lonicera periclymenum Origanum vulgare,Polygonum cuspidatum, Potentilla erecta, Prunus spinosa, Ranunculus, Rhododendron, Rubus fruticosus, R.idaeus, Salix, Sambucus, Senecio jacobaea, Solidago virgaurea, Sorbus aucupareia, Taraxacum.

Irish reference specimens

In the collections of NMI and UM

Determination

van der Goot (1981). The male terminalia are figured by Dusek and Laska (1967) (as Episyrphus), Hippa (1968b) (as Episyrphus) and Vockeroth (1969). The adult insect is illustrated in colour by Kormann (1988), Stubbs and Falk (1983), Torp (1984, 1994) and van der Goot (1986).

Distribution

World distribution(GBIF)

From Fennoscandia south to Iberia, the Mediterranean and N Africa; from Ireland eastwards through most of Europe into Turkey and European parts of Russia; Siberia from the Urals to the Pacific coast (Kuril Isles); N America from Alaska south to California and Colorado. 

Irish distribution

Recorded as occurring in Ireland in Coe (1953). M. cinctella is generally distributed and common in Ireland, as it is over much of Europe, from central parts of Scandinavia almost to the Mediterranean. This is a Holarctic species, ranging widely in both the Palaearctic and Nearctic regions.

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.

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