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Blagdon Lake Birds

Annotated Hoverflies List [2016 Revision]

 

Here is a Hoverfly list that I've put together from my existing records and research. I have used the checklist given on the Dipterists Forum Hoverfly Recording Scheme website. All records are my own unless stated, so any inaccuracy is entirely down to me. If anyone has records they'd like to include, please contact me and I will insert and acknowledge them accordingly.

I have started a voucher collection from the site (with a permit from English Nature) which is not something I do lightly. However, there appear to be few, if any, records for the squares covering the lake, even in Somerset Hoverflies (1998), so I hope my collection will address this and provide specimens that can be verified and eventually donated to Bristol Museum.

 

Diptera (True flies)

Syrphidae (Hoverflies)

Tribe: Bacchini

  • Baccha elongata (Fabricius, 1775), 2011 (N.R. Milbourne). Scarce.
  • Melanostoma mellinum (Linnaeus, 1758), 2001 (N.R. Milbourne). Common.
  • Melanostoma scalare (Fabricius, 1794), 2011 (N.R. Milbourne). Common.
  • Platycheirus albimanus (Fabricius, 1781), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne). Abundant.
  • Platycheirus angustatus (Zetterstedt, 1843), 2004 (D.J. Gibbs).
  • Platycheirus clypeatus (Meigen, 1822), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne). Common.
  • Platycheirus peltatus (Meigen, 1822), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Platycheirus granditarsus (Forster, 1771), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Platycheirus rosarum (Fabricius, 1787), 2004 (D.J. Gibbs), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).

 

Tribe: Syrphini

  • Chrysotoxum bicinctum (Linnaeus, 1758), 2003 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Chrysotoxum cautum (Harris, [1776]), 2011 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Epistrophe eligans (Harris, 1780), 2010 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Episyrphus balteatus (De Geer, 1776) Marmalade Hoverfly, 2010 (N.R. Milbourne). Sometimes abundant migrant.
  • Eupeodes corollae (Fabricius, 1794), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Eupeodes luniger (Meigen, 1822), 2004 (D.J. Gibbs).
  • Leucozona lucorum (Linnaeus, 1758), 2001 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Melangyna compositarum /labiatarum agg., 2013 (N.R. Milbourne). See note 1 below.
  • Meliscaeva cinctella (Zetterstedt, 1843), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Scaeva pyrastri (Linnaeus, 1758), 2012 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Sphaerophoria interrupta (Fabricius, 1805), 2004 (D.J. Gibbs), 2012 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Sphaerophoria scripta (Linnaeus, 1758), 2004 (D.J. Gibbs).
  • Syrphus ribesii (Linnaeus, 1758), 2010 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Syrphus vitripennis Meigen 1822, 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Xanthogramma pedissequum (Harris, [1776]), 2000 (N.R. Milbourne).

 

Tribe: Cheilosiini

  • Cheilosia albitarsis (Meigen, 1822), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Cheilosia illustrata (Harris, [1780]), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Cheilosia impressa Loew 1840, 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Cheilosia lasiopa Kowarz, 1885, 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Cheilosia pagana (Meigen, 1822), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Cheilosia ranunculi Doczkal 2000, 2004 (D.J. Gibbs).
  • Ferdinandea cuprea (Scopoli 1763), 2017 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Portevinia maculata (Fallén, 1817), 2011 (N.R. Milbourne). On Ramsons Allium ursinum in May.
  • Rhingia campestris Meigen 1822, 2000 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Rhingia rostrata (Linnaeus, 1758), 16 Aug. 2012 (N.R. Milbourne). On Burdock Arctium sp. at Holt Copse, with subsequent records.

 

Tribe: Chrysogastrini

  • Chrysogaster solstitialis (Fallén, 1817), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Lejogaster metallina (Fabricius, 1781), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Neoascia podagrica (Fabricius, 1775), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Riponnensia splendens (Meigen, 1822), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).

 

Tribe: Eristalini

  • Eristalinus sepulchralis (Linnaeus, 1758), 2004 (D.J. Gibbs).
  • Eristalis arbustorum (Linnaeus, 1758), 2011 (N.R. Milbourne). Abundant.
  • Eristalis interruptus (Poda, 1761), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne). Abundant.
  • Eristalis intricarius (Linnaeus, 1758), (N.R. Milbourne). Common.
  • Eristalis pertinax (Scopoli, 1763), 2001 (N.R. Milbourne). Abundant.
  • Eristalis tenax Drone Fly (Linnaeus, 1758), 2011 (N.R. Milbourne). Common.
  • Helophilus hybridus Loew 1846, 2013 (N.R. Milbourne). Common.
  • Helophilus pendulus (Linnaeus, 1758), 2001 (N.R. Milbourne). Common.
  • Helophilus trivittatus (Fabricius, 1805), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne). Fairly common.
  • Myathropa florea (Linnaeus, 1758), 2010 (N.R. Milbourne). Fairly common.
  • Parhelophilus versicolor (Fabricius, 1794), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).

 

Tribe: Pipizini

  • Pipiza noctiluca (Linnaeus, 1758), 2012 (N.R. Milbourne). Verified by Roger Morris.
  • Pipizella viduata (Linnaeus, 1758), 2004 (D.J. Gibbs).

 

Tribe: Volucellini

  • Volucella bombylans (Linnaeus, 1758), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Volucella pellucens (Linnaeus, 1758), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Volucella zonaria (Poda, 1761), 1 Aug 2017 (H. & N.R. Milbourne). Extremely rare. 2 records.

 

Tribe: Xylotini

  • Chalcosyrphus nemorum (Fabricius, 1805), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Syritta pipiens (Linnaeus, 1758), 2001 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Xylota segnis (Linnaeus, 1758), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).
  • Xylota sylvarum (Linnaeus, 1758), 2013 (N.R. Milbourne).

 Total 58 spp.

 

Note 1: My ♂ voucher specimen favours Melangyna compositarum using the key in Stubbs & Falk (2002), but they provided a caveat suggesting that M. compositarum / labiatarum is a contentious split that was being investigated at the time. Although both species are listed in the Hoverfly Recording Scheme checklist, so is the agg., and Ball and Morris (2013) write that the debate still continues today. My ♂ specimen will need to be checked against other voucher specimens and if, and when, the validity of the taxonomic distinction is ascertained. We will probably not be able to identify the ♀ specimen.

 

 

Key to abundance:

Extremely rare - five or less records

Very rare - twenty or less records

Rare - less than annual; many years between records

Very scarce - less than annual; typically every 2 or 3 years

Scarce - very small numbers virtually every year

Uncommon - recorded in low numbers each year

Fairly common - occurs in reasonable numbers

Common - regularly occurs in good numbers

Abundant - occurs in large numbers

 

 

Bibliography (sources of information):

  1. Ball, S.G. and Morris, R.K.A. 2000. Provisional Atlas of British Hoverflies (Diptera, Syrphidae). Biological Record Centre, CEH Monks Wood.
  2. Ball, S.G. & Morris, R.K.A. 2013. Britain's Hoverflies - an Introduction to the Hoverflies of Britain. WildGuides, Princeton University Press, Woodstock, Oxon.
  3. Ball, S.G. & Morris, R.K.A. 2015 (2nd edition). Britain's Hoverflies - a field guide. WildGuides, Princeton University Press, Woodstock, Oxon.
  4. Hoverfly Recording Scheme
  5. Levy, E.T. & D.A. 1998 Somerset Hoverflies. A private publication supported by the Somerset Wildlife Trust.
  6. Stubbs. A.E. & Falk, S.J. 2002. British Hoverflies An Illustrated Identification Guide (2nd edition). BE&NHS, Reading, UK.
Nigel Milbourne © 2009-23. All Rights Reserved.