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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » "Aschiza" » Hover Flies (Syrphidae) » Microdontinae » Microdon » subgenus Microdon (Microdon subgenus Microdon) » Microdon megalogaster

Species Microdon megalogaster

Representative Images

Fly - Microdon megalogaster black-bodied ant fly? - Microdon megalogaster Microdon megalogaster Fly - Microdon megalogaster Fly - Microdon megalogaster Microdon megalogaster M megalogaster - Microdon megalogaster megalogaster - Microdon megalogaster - male

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon ("Aschiza")
Family Syrphidae (Hover Flies)
Subfamily Microdontinae
Genus Microdon
No Taxon (subgenus Microdon)
Species megalogaster (Microdon megalogaster)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Microdon bombiformis Townsend 1895

Explanation of Names

Microdon megalogaster Snow 1892
megalogaster = 'huge-bellied'

Size

12-16mm (1)

Identification

Large, hairy bee mimics. Color pattern distinctive: "scutum, scutellum, and abdomen to tergite 2 are covered in yellow pile, while tergites 3-5 are covered in black pile." (1)

Range

Eastern/central North America: Ontario, Quebec, Connecticut, south to North Carolina, Georgia, apparently west through Great Plains(2)

Habitat

Reported to be meadows, barrens, etc. (1)

Season

May-July (NE United States/Canada) (1)

Food

Adults of genus Microdon apparently do not feed--found near host nests (1).

Life Cycle

Larvae in this genus live in ant nests, where they consume larvae and eggs of the ants (1). Known hosts of this species: Formica subsericea, Formica fusca(2). (New World ants formerly assigned to F. fusca now considered to be part of F. subaenescens.)

Works Cited

1.Field Guide to the Flower Flies of Northeastern North America
Jeffrey H. Skevington and Michelle M. Locke, Andrew D. Young, Kevin Moran, William J. Crins and Stephen A. Marshall. 2019. Princeton University Press.
2.Revisionary notes on nearctic Microdon flies (Diptera: Syrphidae)
Thompson F.C. 1981. Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash. 83: 725-758.
Contributed by Cotinis on 19 April, 2013 - 11:13am
Additional contributions by v belov
Last updated 31 August, 2019 - 9:14am

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