Taxonomy
Heringia vitripennis
Distribution
Species Biology
Preferred environment
Forest; conifer forest and plantation; deciduous forest (Quercus/ Carpinus/Ulmus), suburban parks and gardens. The sparse information available about this insect in Ireland suggests it is here associated with oak woodland and fruit trees. The lack of any indication of the presence of H. vitripennis in conifer plantations in Ireland so far is unexpected, given that elsewhere it has been reared from plant bugs on Abies.
Adult habitat & habits
Largely arboreal; males hover at 3m upwards, descending to settle on foliage of trees and shrubs.
Flight period
Mid May/mid September. Larva: predatory on adelgid plant bugs; described and figured by Delucchi et al (1957), from larvae collected on Abies. The species has also been reared from larvae found feeding on coccids on Populus and aphids on Malus (Evenhuis, 1959). The morphology of the chorion of the egg is figured by Kuznetzov (1988)
Flowers visited
White umbellifers; Euphorbia, Potentilla, Prunus serotina, Rosa, Rubus fruticosus agg. Salix.
Irish reference specimens
In the collections of UM
Determination
Bartsch et al (2009b). Delucchi and Pschorn-Walcher (1955), Bradescu (1991) and Verlinden (1991) figure the male terminalia. Verlinden (1991) provides the most comprehensive illustrations of male leg characters. This species appears under Neocnemodon in most recent literature. The adult insect is illustrated in colour by Bartsch et al (2009b), Stubbs and Falk (1983) and Torp (1994). Females of this species cannot be reliably distinguished from those of related species. Information published on H. vitripennis prior to the revision by Delucchi and Pschorn-Walcher (1955) cannot be relied upon, due to possibility of confusion with H. pubescens (D. & P. -W.). Because of confusion over the identity of the Meigen type of H. vitripennis, Delucchi and Pschorn-Walcher (l.c.) described this species under a new name, dreyfusiae, but Collin (1960) reinstated the name vitripennis for it. Subsequently, Thompson (1988) has validated Collin's action, by noting that the type material of H. vitripennis is not in Paris, as had been assumed by Delucchi and Pschorn-Walcher (l.c.), but is in Vienna and that the two males concerned are H. vitripennis sensu Collin - these males had in fact been examined by Delucchi and Pschorn-Walcher and included by them as paratypes of their species H. dreyfusiae! The male of H. vitripennis is extremely similar in appearance to the male of H. larusi. The key provided by Bartsch et al (2009b) can be used to separate the males of these two species.
Distribution
World distribution(GBIF)
Known from southern Sweden southwards to central France and from Ireland eastwards through northern and central Europe into Russia and on through Siberia to the Pacific coast.
Irish distribution
As Neocnemodon vitripennis this hoverfly was added to the Irish list by Speight (1986a), on the basis of a male specimen. H. latitarsis had previously been added to the Irish list on the basis of females (as Cnemodon latitarsis, in Speight et al, 1975), at a time when it was believed that females of H. latitarsis could be distinguished from females of other Heringia species, using Coe's (1953) keys. But it has since become apparent that the features used by Coe (1953) for distinguishing the female of H. latitarsis are unreliable. Further, NO existing key satisfactorily distinguishes the females of H. latitarsis from females of H. vitripennis and, as yet, no morphological features can be found which do achieve separation of the females of these two species. There are still no males of H. latitarsis known from Ireland, so the status of H. latitarsis as an Irish species has to be regarded as doubtful - it is quite conceivable that the females recorded from Ireland as H. latitarsis belong in fact to H. vitripennis. Indeed, until and unless a male of H. latitarsis is found in Ireland, it seems reasonable to treat Irish females of H. latitarsis/vitripennis as belonging to H. vitripennis, a practise which has been followed here. This insect would be a candidate for inclusion on any list of insects requiring protection in Ireland, unless it can be demonstrated that it does occur here in conifer plantations. At present, it is not known from any protected site.
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.