Taxonomy
Chrysogaster cemiteriorum
Distribution
Species Biology
Preferred environment
Wetland; fen and cutover valley bog. In Ireland this is a low-altitude species associated particularly with fens and the lagg edge of raised bogs, the small fens developing between the lagg edge and adjacent esker ridges being especially charcteristic locations for it. C. coemiteriorum does not seem adversely affected by traditional peat-cutting along the lagg edge, which is almost universal round Irish raised bogs, but drainage, with concomitant "improvement" by reseeding and fertilisation of the surrounding grassland, leads to its disappearance. The species occurs also along rivers, both where there is a fenny margin and where patchy, poorly-drained, scrub deciduous woodland borders the water.
Adult habitat & habits
Flies among and over fen meadow vegetation and is frequent at flowers, including under overcast conditions.
Flight period
Mid June/mid September. Larva: features of the larva and puparium are described and figured by Kuznetzov and Kuznetzova (1994), but without any information on larval biology or habitat.
Flowers visited
White umbellifers; Sambucus ebulus.
Irish reference specimens
In the collections of NMI and UM
Determination
See Key provided in StN Keys volume. The male terminalia are figured by Maibach et al (1994a). The adult insect is illustrated in colour by Bartsch et al (2009b), Stubbs and Falk (1983) and Torp (1994).
Distribution
World distribution(GBIF)
Fennoscandia south to N Africa; from Ireland eastwards through most of Europe (though extremely localised in the Alps) into Russia and on to the Pacific coast. C. coemiteriorum is in a similar situation in Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands, though it cannot be regarded as threatened at European level. Although it reaches the southern edge of Scandinavia it appears to meet climatic limitations to its range there, and remains unrecorded from the extensive Scandinavian mire systems.
Irish distribution
Given as occurring in Ireland in Coe (1953). There are scattered records from most parts of Ireland, but this species is most frequently recorded in the Midlands. This species is geatly affected by land-drainage schemes, which have resulted in significant and progressive loss of habitat, to such an extent that this syrphid has to be regarded as vulnerable in Ireland, given that this drainage process has not yet ceased.
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.