Syrphid Fly - Tribe Syrphini - Epistrophella emarginata

Moved

… v belov, 8 January, 2014 - 10:36am

Moved

… v belov, 14 December, 2013 - 11:56am

Epistrophella seems like a re

Epistrophella seems like a reasonable guess... this fly has a strong margin which Melangyna lacks, but I'm not sure how we can rule out Meligramma guttata. Meligramma appears to have a generally narrower abdomen and narrower markings on the abdomen than Epistrophella, but both seem to have a somewhat grooved abdominal margin that is black. The markings on Epistrophella do seem somewhat more angled than on Meligramma.

This fly seems to have markings of intermediate width, so I wouldn't be comfortable saying Epistrophella emarginata or Meligramma guttata just based on that; with the slight angle I would lean slightly towards Epistrophella, but definitely not strong enough to give a positive ID. Definitely would love a second opinion!

… Kelsey J.R.P. Byers, 4 December, 2013 - 7:50pm

Note that this is a female.

I think it's Epistrophella, since shape of abdomen seems to be different - more tapered - on female Meligramma. (Based on internet images; I have no direct experience with either of these.)

… Ron Hemberger, 4 December, 2013 - 8:13pm

Fair point; I would say the a

Fair point; I would say the abdomen on this fly is a little wider than the images of female Meligramma I've seen as well.

(also no experience here with these guys in the flesh!)

Females in Meligramma seem tricky - Vockeroth's 1980 paper doesn't even address female cincta and vespertina in the key, only the males. Fortunately triangulifera and cincta females look distinctive as far as I can tell, and vespertina has no female description in that paper despite it being the species-describing paper!

(apparently Meligramma, Epistrophella, etc are quite closely related and often synonymized anyways, so who knows)

… Kelsey J.R.P. Byers, 4 December, 2013 - 8:18pm

Ephistrophella emarginata

The basoflagellomere is longer than wide.

… Kevin Moran, 7 January, 2014 - 6:06pm

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… v belov, 4 December, 2013 - 10:54am