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Platycheirus
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subgenus Platycheirus (Platycheirus subgenus Platycheirus)
»
Platycheirus coerulescens
Photo#1320272
Copyright © 2016
Charley Eiseman
Syrphid on Epifagus virginiana -
Platycheirus coerulescens
Crag Mountain, Northfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts, USA
September 17, 2016
Size: 6 mm
Images of this individual:
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Contributed by
Charley Eiseman
on 6 December, 2016 - 3:34pm
Last updated 6 December, 2016 - 9:41pm
Moved
Moved from
Platycheirus
.
Thanks for adding the facial shot, that really helped!
1: female -> 79
79: anterior corner intermediate... will try both -> 80, 105
105: some tergites with pale spots -> 108
108: some femora black -> 109
109: all femora black -> aeratus, but can't be due to range
80: no obvious patterns in pollinosity -> 81
81: abdomen mostly dark -> 83
83: markings not confluent -> 85
85: scutum pile all pale -> 86
86: pile short, pleuron pollinoseish -> 87
87: 88
88: scutum shining -> 89
89: triangles weakly present -> 97
97: tergites with smaller spots and pollinose overlay -> 98
98: difficult to judge -> coerulescens or 99, but 99 terminates in clearly incorrect species, and the particular "color overlay" pattern of the abdominal spots looks very much like
P. coerulescens
…
Kelsey J.R.P. Byers
, 6 December, 2016 - 9:41pm
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Moved
Moved from
Syrphid Flies
.
Bill Dean agreed this is a
Platycheirus
(see first photo).
…
Charley Eiseman
, 6 December, 2016 - 7:36pm
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Weird - I want to say this is
Weird - I want to say this is
Platycheirus
, but if I key it out in the Young 2016 key to Nearctic
Platycheirus
I keep getting
P. aeratus
, which is a strictly western species... maybe it is an oddly marked
Melanostoma
instead? But the face and abdominal markings really don't look like
Melanostoma
...
Key details:
1: females -> 79
79: anterior oral margin smooth -> 105
105: some tergites with pale spots -> 108
108: some/all femora broadly black basally -> 109
109: all femora black basally ->
P. aeratus
(if you instead argue that the tergites are dark with silvery markings at #105:
105: tergites entirely dark, sometimes with silver markings -> 106
106: tergites with silver pollinose markings -> 107
107: all femora black basally ->
P. aeratus
again)
If the anterior margin is not smooth, then this is either
P. confusus
or
P. thylax
, hard to judge from the facial shots here.
…
Kelsey J.R.P. Byers
, 6 December, 2016 - 4:11pm
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