Taxonomy
Eupeodes latifasciatus
Distribution
Species Biology
Preferred environment
Wetland/open ground; fen, humid, seasonally-flooded/poorly-drained grassland, oligotrophic Molinia grassland and along streams in open country, unsown fallow land (including setaside). E. latifasciatus is, par excellence, an insect of waterside and humid open ground habitats wherever it occurs in Europe - though in the Mediterranean region it is also associated with wooded stream margins. Climatic conditions prevalent in Ireland render many locations suitable for the species and it is probably more readily found here than almost anywhere else. It occurs in the full range of freshwater wetland habitats represented in Ireland, including blanket bog, although its occurrence in blanket bog is restricted to streamsides and the more mineral-rich flushes. In farmland, it may occur in the immediate vicinity of water-filled ditches, as well as in humid grassland. In contrast with the more anthropophilic species E. corollae and E. luniger, E. latifasciatus is not an insect characteristic of suburban gardens or croplands.
Adult habitat & habits
Rarely flies more than 2m above the ground; usually among low growing vegetation in the vicinity of water.
Flight period
May/September, with peaks in June and August (plus April and October in southern Europe). Larva: described by Dusek & Laska (1960); aphid feeding, on root-aphids. Egg: Chandler (1968). The morphology of the chorion of the egg is figured by Kuznetzov (1988). This species has been reared in the laboratory on aphids associated with various low-growing plants and shrubs. The available information on rearing in culture is summarised by Barkemeyer (1994).
Flowers visited
White umbellifers; Caltha, Convolvulus, Euphorbia, Prunus padus, Ranunculus, Salix repens, Taraxacum, Tussilago, Ulex.
Irish reference specimens
In the collections of NMI and UM
Determination
See Key provided in StN Keys volume; van der Goot (1981), Dusek & Laska (1976). The male terminalia are figured by Dusek and Laska (1976). 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 Iceland and Fennoscandia south to Iberia, the Mediterranean (including Cyprus), N Africa and Turkey; from Ireland eastwards through most of Europe into European parts of Russia; through Siberia from the Urals to the Pacific coast (Sakhalin and Kuril Isles); India; in N America from Alaska south to California and Texas.
Irish distribution
Recorded as occurring in Ireland in Coe (1953). E. latifasciatus is widely distributed in Ireland and frequent - it is more frequently met with here than is E. corollae, which is the converse of the situation found elsewhere in Europe where both species occur.
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.