eastern band-winged hover fly

Eastern band-winged hover fly is medium-sized flower fly. It occurs in the United States east of the Great Plains, and across southern Canada. It is most common in the northeast and the upper Midwest. It is not common in Minnesota, where it is at the western extent of its range. Adults are found from early June to late September in forests, bogs, and marshes. They feed on flower nectar. Larvae feed on mealybugs and scale insects.

Adults are dark, slender, and long, ⅜″ to ½″ (9.0 to 13.3 mm) in length.

The head is large, round, and distinctly wider than the thorax. There are two large compound eyes on the sides of the head and three small simple eyes (ocelli) in a triangle on the top of the head. The compound eyes are brown and bare, with no erect hairs. On the male they meet at the top of the head. On the female they are narrowly separated, by about the width of the ocellar triangle. The face is entirely yellow. It is less than one-third as wide as the head and is short, not produced forward. The antennae are orange and short. They have just three segments and are inserted near the middle of the head when viewed from the side. The first and second segments are short. The third segment is oval. There is a stiff, forward-pointing bristle (arista) at the base of third segment. The arista are bare, not feather-like (plumose). The protruding mouthpart (proboscis) is short and fleshy.

The thorax is short and black, with two pale longitudinal stripes. The plate between the thorax and abdomen (scutellum) is translucent and entirely or partially yellow, orange, or brown.

The abdomen is long, narrow, and mostly black. It is three or four times as long as the thorax. There is an orange, yellowish, or whitish band at the base of the third and fourth segments. Each bands covers less than half of the segment.

The wings are clear except for a brown patch at the base and a broad brown band in the middle that doesn’t reach the inner margin. There is a false vein (spurious vein) between the radius (R) and media (M) veins. The anal cell is long and is closed near the wing margin. The marginal, R₅, and M₂ cells are also closed. The R₄₊₅ vein is nearly straight.

Total length: ⅜″ to ½″ (9.0 to 13.3 mm)

Forests, bogs, and marshes

Early June to late September

Mealybugs and scale insects

Flower nectar

Sources

24, 27, 29, 30, 82, 83.

Telford, Horace S.. (1939). The Syrphidae of Minnesota. University of Minnesota. Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station.

This species was formerly placed in the genus Ocyptamus. That genus was an assemblage of more than 200 species that clearly did not belong together. It included species with different evolutionary lineages (paraphyletic). The genus was scrutinized in a number of studies between 2011 and 2018. In 2018, the genus Ocyptamus was narrowly restricted. Former subspecies and species groups were elevated to species rank, but some clades remained as species groups within Ocyptamus sensu lato. An article published in 2020 resolved these “orphaned” species, placing them in five new genera. The former Ocyptamus fascipennis group is now Hypocritanus fascipennis.

Syrphid Fly - Ocyptamus fascipennis
Stoil Ivanov

Ocyptamus fascipennis (famille des syrphes) butinant sur une fleur de bardane.
René Ammann

Location: Woodbury, MN

Bill Reynolds
9/1/2014

Location: Pennington Co. MN