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Posted by nick upton on 22-09-2011 18:17

Can anyone ID this hoverfly..? Looks like Eristalis arbustorum to me, but Eristalis spp. usually give me problems and I can't find a record of this species so far south and east in Europe. Any other ideas? No other angles to help with this one...

31.5.11 c8mm Isle of Lesbos, Greece (not far from Turkey...)

Edited by nick upton on 22-09-2011 21:58

Posted by Pierre-Yves on 22-09-2011 21:37

Hi Nick

I would had to say E. arbusiva. Have you a picture of the face to confirm ?

P-Y

Posted by nick upton on 22-09-2011 21:57

Many thanks for this suggestion Pierre-Yves. E. abusiva looks possible and its distribution includes Greece. Sorry, I have no more photos of this fly; it did not stay long! There are no photos of E.abusiva in the gallery, and I would post this if the ID is safe, but maybe without a frontal view, we cannot be sure. I read elsewhere there is more yellow on the mid tibia than E. arbustorum.

Posted by Sundew on 22-09-2011 22:09

I see long hairs on the arista that would rule out E. abusivus (cp. Blowave's thread http://www.dipter...ost_184696).

Edited by Sundew on 22-09-2011 22:10

Posted by nick upton on 22-09-2011 22:22

OK, yes, the arista is very hairy, so according to the key Blowave refers to, that rules abusiva/abusivus out, but what could it be that is found in this region...? I should keep away from Eristalis...

Posted by blowave on 23-09-2011 01:37

It keys out to E. arbustorum, that is if the face has no broad stripe! Given the pilose nature of the face I doubt it has, it does look like arbustorum as the female often has no yellow on T2.

Posted by nick upton on 23-09-2011 08:50

Many thanks for checking the key. Looks like my first instinct was right ater all and the distribution map I checked (the Global diversity infomation facility) http://data.gbif.org/species/14778010 may be wrong. According to that this would be several hundred miles SE of its range limit.

I have now come across a record for this species in Greece, an ID made through this website http://diptera.info/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=27826&pid=124172

So maybe the GBIF info reflects more the distribution of collectors/specialists than of the species it covers!