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

Species Toxomerus geminatus - Eastern Calligrapher

Colorful wings - Toxomerus geminatus - male fly  - Toxomerus geminatus Which syrphid please…………. - Toxomerus geminatus hoverfly or bee species on oxeye daisy - Toxomerus geminatus Syrphid fly - Toxomerus geminatus - male - female Hover Fly toxomerus geminatus - I think - Toxomerus geminatus Eastern Calligrapher? - Toxomerus geminatus - male - female tiny pollen eater - Toxomerus geminatus
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
Species geminatus (Eastern Calligrapher)
Other Common Names
Eastern Calligrapher(1)
Explanation of Names
Toxomerus geminatus (Say 1823)
Size
6-7.5 mm
Identification
scutellum blackish with well-defined yellow margin; abdomen yellow with black bands that reach the margin (i.e. margin of abdomen is alternately black and yellow); tip of abdomen pointed in female, rounded in male; top of thorax dark bronzy-brown to blackish with yellow margin; wings clear; eyes large, reddish-brown; face white with thin strip projecting upward between eyes; forehead dark; antennae yellow; back of head white
Facial differences between male and female:
(male is on top)
see also[cite:144390]
Range
e. NA (QC-FL to MN-TX)(2)
Habitat
often found visiting flowers of herbaceous plants, or sometimes resting on nearby leaves

Adults found in forests, meadows, fields, savannas, marshes, bogs, and fens(1)
Season
Apr-Nov
Food
Larvae feed on a variety of aphids and mites(1)
Life Cycle
1. Larva 2. Puparium 3. Adult female. 4. Adult male
Remarks
common to abundant
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.Thompson F.C., Pape T., Evenhuis N.L. (2013) Systema Dipterorum, Version 1.5