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Subfamily Syrphinae

 Hover Fly - Eupeodes sp? - Eupeodes - female Syrphid Fly ID? - Toxomerus geminatus - male - female Syrphid Fly - Dasysyrphus intrudens Unknown Dipteran - Platycheirus Fly - Allograpta obliqua Syrphid - Syrphus torvus Toxomerus? - Toxomerus verticalis Syrphid with curved yellow bands on Sisymbrium loeselii - Lapposyrphus lapponicus - female
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon ("Aschiza")
Family Syrphidae (Hover Flies)
Subfamily Syrphinae
Numbers
~300 spp. in 43 genera in our area(1)
Identification
Keys to most NA spp. in(2)
Adults have bare humeri (postpronotal lobes), though these are often hidden by the concave posterior of their close fitting heads.
Food
The larvae are primarily aphid predators. Some are generalists, others specialize in just a few species of aphids. Those in the Pipizini tribe specialize on gall forming aphids.
Adults exploit pollen and nectar produced by native plants having large inflorescences and flat corollae (e.g. Apiaceae, Asteraceae, Ranunculaceae and Rosaceae).
Life Cycle
1: egg. 2 and 3: larvae. 4 and 5 puparia
Remarks
Efficient biocontrol agents and minor pollinators.(3)
The classification of tribes is in flux; only Paragini and Toxomerini seem to be monophyletic. (Mengual et al. 2008)

Larvae have pairs of locomotory organs on the first six abdominal segments. These are not true prolegs because they lack musculature and crochets.
Internet References
The Flower Flies of the Subfamily Syrphinae of Canada, Alaska, and Greenland. Key to Nearctic genera and subgenera of Syrphinae, page 27.
Cornell U. Biological Control.
Annual Review of Entomology. Bionomics and Physiology of Aphidophagous Syrphidae
U. Cal. Flower Flies (Syrphidae) and Other Biological Control Agents for Aphids in Vegetable Crops
U. Cal. Bugg, R. L.
Works Cited
1.Key to the genera of nearctic Syrphidae
Miranda G.F.G, Young A.D., Locke M.M., Marshall S.A., Skevington J.H., Thompson F.C. 2013. Can. J. Arthropod Identification 23: 1‒351.
2.The flower flies of the subfamily Syrphinae of Canada, Alaska, and Greenland, Diptera: Syrphidae
Vockeroth J.R. 1992. The insects and arachnids of Canada, Pt. 18. Ottawa: Agriculture Canada. 456 pp.
3.Flower Flies (Syrphidae) and other biological control agents for aphids in vegetable crops
R. Bugg et al. 2008. UC ANR Publication 8285.