Little dung bee
| Little dung bee | ||||||||||||
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Little dung bee ( Syritta pipiens ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Syritta pipiens | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The little dung bee or common club- hover fly ( Syritta pipiens ) is a fly from the family of hover flies (Syrphidae).
features
The flies reach a length of 7 to 9 millimeters and have a very slim build. The face protrudes like a keel. The forehead of the female is silver-white with a black crown. The short antennae have a reddish yellow color, which darkens towards the front, as well as a bare antennae bristle. The breast is elongated, black and has an ash-gray pollination on the sides. A very distinctive distinguishing feature, which is why the little dung bee can hardly be confused with another species, are the club-like, thickened thighs on the rear pair of legs, which are finely spiked on the underside. The abdomen ( abdomen ) has wedge-shaped, black openwork, yellow transverse bands on the second and third segments. The fourth segment is glossy black and has two white side points on the front edge and a yellowish lined rear edge.
Occurrence
The species is widespread in the northern hemisphere. It is one of the most widespread hoverflies in Central Europe. They can be found in bodies of water, wetlands, meadows and as a cultural follower in fields in parks and gardens. The little dung bee flies from April to October, in southern Europe all year round.
Way of life
The adults feed on dead plant substances ( saprophages ). They usually fly low with a characteristic flight pattern, rarely above a height of 1 m and are flower visitors on various plants. There they prefer to stay on umbellifers . The mating of the little dung bee takes place in a kind of shaking flight and only takes a maximum of five seconds. The larvae , so-called rat tail larvae, live coprophagous in compost, horse manure or cow dung, as well as in plant waste. The species is polyvoltine , which means that it produces several generations per year.
swell
- Olaf Bastian: Hoverflies. Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei, Vol. 576, Westarp Wissenschaften, Magdeburg 1994, ISBN 3-89432-469-4
- Joachim and Hiroko Haupt: Flies and mosquitoes: observation, way of life. Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-89440-278-4 .
- Kurt Kormann: Hover flies and bladder-head flies of Central Europe Fauna Nature Guide Volume 1, Fauna-Verlag, Nottuln 2002, ISBN 3-935980-29-9
- Speight, MCD (200) Species accounts of European Syrphidae (Diptera) 2010. Syrph the Net, the database of European Syrphidae, vol. 59, 285 pp., ISSN 1393-4546 . Syrph the Net Publications, Dublin.
- van Veen, MP Hoverflies of Northwest Europe KNNV Publishing 2004, ISBN 978-90-5011-199-7 .
Web links
- Syritta pipiens at Fauna Europaea