Diptera.info

Posted by Atli on 15-04-2007 21:05

Despite the lack in diversity of Syrphidae in Iceland (only 28 recorded species) I've not been able to identify this one. Unfortunately, I do not possess a checklist for Syrphidae in Iceland, and accurate checklists are not available on the internet.

Size: About 1 cm in length.
Habitat: Lush meadow beside a small stream and some stands of spruce and birch.
Date: June 21, 2006

Greater resolution:
http://www.flickr...458070747/

Edited by Atli on 15-04-2007 22:07

Posted by Gerard Pennards on 15-04-2007 21:27

Hello Atli,
Well, if your list also has Eupeodes luniger on it, it's okay.
This seems to be a female of that species!
greetings,

Posted by Atli on 15-04-2007 21:47

It resembles Eupeodes luniger, and maybe your identification is correct.
However, it's not on the following lists:

http://www.syrphi...country=IS
http://www.zmuc.d...ra/Ice.htm
http://www.biomus...hidae.html

According to the above checklists, Eupeodes lundbecki, Eupeodes punctifer, and Eupeodes curtus are found in Iceland. Could it be any of those?

Best regards

Edited by Atli on 15-04-2007 22:03

Posted by Paul Beuk on 15-04-2007 22:11

It always works best if the image can be viewed in thread, so here is the image.

Edited by Paul Beuk on 15-04-2007 22:14

Posted by Kahis on 15-04-2007 22:37

It's not E. lundbecki, which is a larger, Scaeva-like species. Having compared the photograph with females of E. curtus and E. punctifer I would exclude the latter. This leaves us with E. curtus or E. luniger . I would not be surprised if some of the recently described alpine/arctic species (like E. tirolensis) do occur on Iceland.

Summa summarum: Eupeodes is difficult even with the specimen at hand and a good reference collection.

Edited by Kahis on 15-04-2007 22:38

Posted by Dieter on 15-04-2007 23:57

This is certainly neither luniger nor lundbecki. But tirolensis could be correct. All its characters as far as they are visible from the image do fit: frons virtually undusted, broad margin of wing beyond outer cross veins, and the shape of the abdominal spots. But Eupeodes is one of the most difficult genera of Syrphidae and the fauna of Iceland is not well explored. So it could be something else as well.

Best regards,
Dieter

Posted by Atli on 29-04-2007 12:09

Thanks. I greatly appreciate your help.
According to Kahis and Dieter it is likely to be either E. tirolensis or E. curtus. Since E. tirolensis has probably not been found in Iceland, I'll label it as E. curtus.

Best regards,
Atli