Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Genus Ocyptamus

Flower Fly (Ocyptamus fuscipennis) - Ocyptamus fuscipennis Fly - Ocyptamus fuscipennis Syrphid fly - Ocyptamus antiphates Syrphid? - Ocyptamus fuscipennis should be Ocyptamus fuscipennis - male ? (on Asclepias curassavica) - Ocyptamus fuscipennis Hoverfly - Ocyptamus fuscipennis 27Jun2018.BeavLk.HN.Dip2 - Ocyptamus fuscipennis Syrphidae sp larva - Ocyptamus
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
Tribe Syrphini
Genus Ocyptamus
Other Common Names
O. cylindricus species group
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
the taxonomy adopted here follows that proposed in(1)(2), whereby several nearctic spp. formerly treated in Ocyptamus have been transferred to other genera (Hybobathus, Pelecinobaccha, Pseudoscaeva) to avoid paraphyly with regards to Eosalpingogaster and Toxomerus(1)(Mengual 2012)
Explanation of Names
Ocyptamus Macquart 1834
Numbers
10 spp. in our area(2), 17 total [if defined broadly, ~300 spp. total](1)
Size
9-14 mm
Range
New World
Habitat
Some tropical species have aquatic larvae (Rotheray et al. 2000)
Food
Larvae prey on aphids, coccids, etc.
Print References
Mengual X. et al. (2012) Is the mega-diverse genus Ocyptamus (Diptera, Syrphidae) monophyletic? Evidence from molecular characters including the secondary structure of 28S rRNA. (Abstract)
Rotheray G.E., Zumbado M., Hancock E.G., Thompson F.C. (2000) Remarkable aquatic predators in the genus Ocyptamus (Diptera, Syrphidae). Studia dipterologica 7: 385-389 (Full text)
Internet References
Works Cited
1.An overview of the genus Ocyptamus Macquart, 1834, with a revision of the Ocyptamus tristis species group (PhD thesis)
Gonçalves Miranda G.F. 2011. Guelph, Ontario. iii+617 pp.
2.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.