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Hoverflies (Syrphidae), tribe Eristalini

Moderate to large hoverflies, bee, bumble-bee or wasp-like. Larvae live in organics-rich water.

Eristalis arbustorum (Linnaeus, 1758)

Cambridge: 29 Jun 2002 Length: 7mm A pale specimen with distinctive shape of the orange markings. Other specimens are dark without the markings. All tarsi dark. No face stripe on live insects.

Eristalis intricarius (Linnaeus, 1758)

Cambridge: 5 May 2001 A notable bumble-bee mimic (but not to any particular bee) Legs partly pale unlike Merodon spp. Dark crescents on wings also distinctive.

Eristalis pertinax (Scopoli, 1763)

Cambridge: 4 Oct 2000; Female Generally similar to E. tenax below (amount of orange varies) with: 1st & 2nd tarsi orange-brown Eyes bare Face generally dark with no sharply defined stripe.

Eristalis tenax (Linnaeus, 1758)

Cambridge: 24 Sep 2000; Female Generally similar to E. pertinax above (amount of orange varies) with: 1st & 2nd tarsi dark, nearly black Eyes with dark bands of hairs Prominent broad stripe down face.

Helophilus pendulus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Cambridge: 14 Apr 2002 By far the commonest UK species of Helophilus, which are distinguished by the yellow striped thorax. Hind tibiae yellow on basal two-thirds (better seen here on the left leg) Black stripe on face, (not visible from this angle) Larvae filter food from drains & manure

Helophilus trivittatus (Fabricius, 1805)

Cambridge: 14 Jun 2002 Noticeably larger and brighter than H. pendulus: rear abdominal segements are proportionally longer too. No black stripe on face but may be some reddish-brown

Myathropa florea (Linnaeus, 1758)

Cambridge: 29 Jun 2002 Thorax black partly bisected with pale bars. Nothing else really like this in the UK. 9mm long. Larvae live in rotting wood, filtering food. Myathropa appears to be an earlier spelling than the variant Myiatropa

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