Taxonomy
Platycheirus splendidus
Distribution
Species Biology
Preferred environment
Forest/hedgerows; deciduous forest of Quercus/Ulmus with clearings and other open areas upwards to the upper limit of the Picea/Abies forest zone and on to 2000m in the Alps, where it may be found in association with Alnus viridis thickets. Hedges containing Ulmus glabra (G. Rotheray, pers.comm.); also, suburban gardens (Speight, 2005). At present, this Platycheirus species is known only from enclosed farmland, where it has been found in association with hedges (Speight et al, 2004) and in Dublin suburbia (Speight, 2005), where it was found in a recently-established (i.e. less than 20 years old) suburban garden. These records suggest the species might be expected from the immediate vicinity of scrub woodland, but the lack of records from any natural/semi-natural habitat in Ireland, and the absence of the species from earlier collections, imply that it may have established itself in Ireland only recently. Its occurrence in scrub-invaded clearings in forest and with scrub formations up to 2000m, in central Europe, would also suggest it may be found with scrub woodland in Ireland.
Adult habitat & habits
Females fly at up to 3m, around the foliage of U. glabra (G. Rotheray, pers.comm.). Males of this species make a habit of sitting in the sun, in the evening, in sheltered spots, on the foliage of shrubs, at heights of around 2m from the ground.
Flight period
April/beginning June and end June/August; possibly only one generation (mid-April/beginning July) in Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia. Larva: larva described and puparium described and figured by Rotheray (1998) from aphid galls on Ulmus glabra and aphid colonies on Silene dioica.
Flowers visited
Anthriscus (Bartsch et al, 2005), Heracleum (Doczkal et al, 2002), Silene dioica (G. Rotheray, pers.comm.), yellow Crassula.
Irish reference specimens
In the collections of NMI
Determination
Doczkal et al (2002) provide a key distinguishing the male of this species from males of the other European species of the scutatus group, P. aurolateralis, P. scutatus and P. speighti. The female of this species cannot at present be separated from the other species of this group. Rotheray (1998) figures the male terminalia and provides features distinguishing this species from P. scutatus. P. albimanus, P. aurolateralis. P. splendidus and P. scutatus may be found in flight together (and with P. speighti, in the Alps), and can be difficult to separate from one another in the field. There is greater variability in the colour of the pale abdominal markings in P. splendidus than is suggested in existing literature. Far from resembling P. scutatus, dark forms of P. splendidus can be indistinguishable from the almost ubiquitous P. albimanus in the field, though P. splendidus is usually rather larger than P. albimanus. There is particular difficulty in the recognition of specimens of P. splendidus in alcohol or colour of the frontal dusting and the abdominal markings become difficult to interpret in both this and related species. An attempt to overcome these latter problems is made in the key by Speight et al (2004), which does not, however, include P. speighti. The general appearance of the female is shown in the coloured photo provided by Haarto and Kerppola (2007a). The male is well shown in the coloured illustration provided by Bartsch et al (2009a), whose keys can be used to identify this species where P. speighti does not occur.
Distribution
World distribution(GBIF)
Uncertain, due to confusion until recently with other members of the scutatus group, but confirmed from Ireland, Britain (Scotland southwards) and Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland), through Belgium and Germany to the Alps (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland).
Irish distribution
Added to the Irish list by Speight et al (2004). Existing Irish records may provide no guide to the distribution of the species in Ireland, because of uncertainty over whether P. splendidus has been overlooked in Ireland in the past. However, there is no evidence that this has occurred, in the form of specimens in collections proving to be misdetermined when their identity has been rechecked. On the other hand there seems no reason why this species should be confined in Ireland to counties Dublin and Kildare. It's apparent capacity to occur both within the farmed landscape and in suburbia provides no basis for regarding it as a species threatened in Ireland, despite the few existing records.
Temporal change
Records submitted to Data Centre in 2025
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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.