Taxonomy
Parasyrphus punctulatus
Distribution
Species Biology
Preferred environment
Forest; deciduous and coniferous forest and conifer plantation; Quercus/Fraxinus and Betula/Salix/Alnus forest and woodland and forest and plantation of Pinaceae or Larix; plus suburban gardens and orchards with mature trees; thermophilous Quercus forest. Conifer plantations and oak woodlands are the situations in which P. punctulatus is most frequently encountered in Ireland. It may also occur in association with mature, deciduous scrub. Betula does not seem to support this species, but it does occur in Alnus/Betula/Salix scrub. Its occurrence with conifer plantations ensures a wide distribution here and it can be regarded as primarily an anthropophilic species in Ireland. In continental Europe it occurs in association with humid deciduous forests of oak and beech and with conifer forests up to the tree limit, in Larix forest.
Adult habitat & habits
Largely arboreal but descends to visit flowers; also flies around foliage of conifers and deciduous trees at 2m upwards, frequently settling on the foliage; males hover close to trees, in clearings, along tracks etc., at 2m upwards.
Flight period
Mid April/mid June and on to mid July at higher altitudes. Larva: undescribed, but illustrated in colour by Rotheray (1994); Chandler (1968) describes the egg. According to Barkemeyer (1994), this species overwinters as a puparium.
Flowers visited
White umbellifers; Acer pseudoplatanus, Aliaria, Anemone nemorosa, Caltha, Cardamine, Crataegus, Euphorbia, Ilex, Ligustrum, Meum, Oxalis, Prunus cerasus, P. laurocerasus, P.spinosa, Ranunculus, male Salix, Sambucus racemosa, Sorbus aucuparia, Taraxacum,Tussilago, Ulex, Viburnum opulus.
Irish reference specimens
In the collections of NMI and UM
Determination
See Key provided in StN Keys volume. The male terminalia are figured by Hippa (1968b). 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 the Pyrenees; from Ireland eastwards through northern and central Europe (plus northern Italy) into European parts of Russia and the Caucasus and on through Siberia to the Pacific coast (Japan); Himalayas (Nepal, see Claussen and Weipert, 2003). P. punctulatus is common and widely distributed in Ireland and in other Atlantic parts of Europe, from the southern edge of Scandinavia to northern France. Away from mountainous country it becomes less frequent in central and southern Europe and is not known from the Mediterranean zone, or from Spain and Portugal. It does, however, range widely beyond Europe, in Asiatic parts of the Palaearctic.
Irish distribution
Recorded as occurring in Ireland in Coe (1953). P. punctulatus is common and widely distributed in Ireland.
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.