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Genus Toxomerus

Syrphid Fly spp? - Toxomerus marginatus - male Syrphid Fly - Toxomerus floralis - male hoverfly - Toxomerus politus - male Syrphid from Oregon with Distinctive Stripe Pattern - Toxomerus occidentalis Insect - Toxomerus marginatus Toxomerus marginatus? - Toxomerus marginatus Very dark Syritta pipiens? - Toxomerus occidentalis - male Hover fly  - Toxomerus corbis
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 Toxomerus
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Mesogramma Loew 1866, Mesograpta Loew 1872
Moved to Syrphini per recent paper
Explanation of Names
Toxomerus Macquart 1855
From Greek 'bow thigh' (refers to the bow-shaped metafemur)
Numbers
14 spp. in our area(1)(2)(3), hundreds total
Size
5‒13 mm
Identification
Key to our species in (4)
Pattern on abdomen characteristic(5); eye with a notch on back margin
Colors vary depending on temperature during pupation: under hotter conditions, the yellow/orange increases and the background gets lighter, but if it was cold, the dark increases and the orange parts become darker. Larvae and puparia bright green.
Range
New World & tropical Africa; in our area:
T. marginatus: much of the US & so.Canada; common
T. geminatus: e.NA; common
T. politus: so. Canada to Argentina; uncommon
T. occidentalis: w.NA; common
10 spp. restricted to FL
Food
Larvae of most species feed on aphids
Life Cycle
Eggs laid singly on plants near aphids. Pupation in soil cavities in spring; adults emerge in summer.(5)
Egg laying
Remarks
"extremely diverse in the tropics with many, many undescribed species and over 100 described species." ‒Jeff Skevington
See Also
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. CJAI 23: 1‒351.
2.Toxomerus mutuus
3.A Catalog of the Diptera of America North of Mexico
Alan Stone, et al. 1965. United States Department of Agriculture.
4.Field/Photo ID for Flies: Fly Guide
5.National Audubon Society Field Guide to Insects and Spiders
Lorus and Margery Milne. 1980. Knopf.