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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » "Aschiza" » Hover Flies (Syrphidae) » Eristalinae » Volucellini » Copestylum » marginatum group (Copestylum marginatum group) » Copestylum lentum

Photo#98560

Copyright © 2007 Hartmut Wisch

Copestylum - Copestylum lentum -

Stabilized sanddunes near Point Mugu, Ventura County, California, USA
March 16, 2007
Size: 10-11mm

Short, compact, hirsute, with a black-banded abdomen reminiscent of Ad Reinhardt paintings. Sure looks like a Copestylum, and one I've been after for a while; always on the move. This time I caught it wallowing in pollen and sipping nectar on a Coreopsis gigantea.

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Contributed by Hartmut Wisch on 18 March, 2007 - 4:06am
Last updated 28 July, 2009 - 1:46pm

Moved

Moved from Copestylum.

… Martin Hauser, 28 July, 2009 - 1:46pm

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Thanks, Martin -

This sp. must vary considerably in coloration. Last year I looked at the identified Copestylum collection at the L.A. Nat. Hist. Mus., including a male lentum from Douglas, AZ, which was more gold & dark, with a couple of small vittae on the scutum, though now I can see a relationship. Also, I didn't have a specimen...

… Hartmut Wisch, 28 July, 2009 - 2:19pm

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I collected some of these mal

I collected some of these males, and they were completely black, but this is not the usual color pattern of this species..

… Martin Hauser, 28 July, 2009 - 2:57pm

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Thanks again, Martin -

this is interesting, perhaps a local color form? I'll ask Jim Hogue whether he netted any of these in the Santa Monicas.

… Hartmut Wisch, 28 July, 2009 - 3:27pm

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I caught it on St Catalina Is

I caught it on St Catalina Island this spring. I think it is just a melanistic form, because all kinds of color forms were flying at the same time at the same spot. Often specimens in isolated (island) population or in spring (colder temp) tend to be darker...

… Martin Hauser, 28 July, 2009 - 3:56pm

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Thanks for your thoughts

and information on this, Martin.
At the time I netted a couple of these (now with Jim Hogue at CSU Northridge), thinking I had the darker ones. They turned out to be on the lighter side, though with a dark venter.

… Hartmut Wisch, 28 July, 2009 - 8:26pm

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