Taxonomy
Neoascia podagrica
Distribution
Species Biology
Preferred environment
Forest/wetland; alluvial forest plus pond margins and fen; now primarily anthropophilic, found in humid pasturage, along wet ditches, around farmyards and in other situations where organic refuse is present, including canal banks, suburban gardens, rubbish dumps and parks. It can occur in Ireland in association with (and has been bred from) constructed wetlands, introduced to farmland for treatment of livestock waste. The largely cow-based farming economy of Ireland, coupled to the humid climate, suits this species well.
Adult habitat & habits
Flies low among waterside vegetation; males hover among vegetation, frequently close to flowers in bloom.
Flight period
April/October (plus March in southern Europe). Larva: figured in colour by Bartsch et al (2009a); described and figured by Hartley (1961) and Maibach and Goeldlin (1993) from larvae in cow dung and compost; sub-aquatic, occurring in cow-dung, slurry and dung-enriched mud etc; recorded by Dusek and Laska (1962) living with larvae of Cheilosia canicularis in roots of Petasites species, though there must be some doubt as to whether this records refers to N. obliqua (see under N. obliqua).
Flowers visited
White umbellifers; Achillea millefolium, Allium ursinum, Caltha, Chelidonium, Convolvulus, Crataegus, Euphorbia, Leontodon, Menyanthes, Plantago,Potentilla erecta, Ranunculus, Salix repens, Senecio jacobaea, Taraxacum. For an extended list of flowers visited, see de Buck (1990).
Irish reference specimens
In the collections of NMI and UM
Determination
Barkemeyer & Claussen (1986). Separation from other members of the podagrica group except N. balearensis in Speight (1988a). Both Barkemeyer and Claussen (1986) and Speight (1988b) figure the male terminalia. The adult insect is illustrated in colour by Bartsch et al (2009b), Stubbs and Falk (1983), Torp (1984, 1994) and van der Goot (1986). Kassebeer (2002) details differences between N. podagrica and the closely-related N. balearensis.
Distribution
World distribution(GBIF)
From Fennoscandia south to Iberia and the Mediterranean, including Madeira, Cyprus and Crete; N Africa; from Ireland eastwards through northern, central and southern Europe (Italy, the former Yugoslavia, Greece) to Turkey and Israel; European parts of Russia and on into western Siberia as far as Cis-Baikal. It is also widely distributed and frequent in much of continental Europe, from central Scandinavia to the Mediterranean.
Irish distribution
Recorded as occurring in Ireland in Coe (1953). N. podagrica is common and generally distributed in Ireland.
Temporal change
Records submitted to Data Centre in 2024
The following map is interactive. If you would prefer to view it full screen then click here.
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.