margined calligrapher

Sryphid flies are considered beneficial because they prey on insects that attack ornamental plants and crops. Margined calligrapher is a small calligrapher fly. Its coloration of the margined calligrapher is an example of Batesian mimicry, resembling the warning coloration of stinging bees and wasps.

Margined calligrapher is identified by the small, round, black spot near the tip of the abdomen. The eyes of the male margined calligrapher meet at the top of the head. The eyes of the female do not.

April to November

Adults can often be seen hovering over plants, a favorite activity that gives this family one of it’s common names.

Aphids, scales, thrips, and caterpilars of both butterflies and moths

Pollen, nectar, and honeydew.

Sources

7, 24, 27, 29, 30, 82, 83.

Common to abundant

The subfamily Syrphinae was traditionally divided into four tribes, Bacchini, Paragini, Syrphini and Toxomerini. The genus Toxomerus was placed in the tribe Toxomerini, and it was the only genus in that tribe. Several molecular studies between 2008 and 2016 showed that including the tribes Paragini and Toxomerini made the tribe Syrphini include only organisms from a common ancestor or ancestral group, but not all of the descendants of that ancestor or group – it was paraphyletic, and therefore invalid. A recent phylogenetic and evolutionary analysis of the subfamily Syrphinae (Mengual et al., 2022) showed that the family comprised just three major lineages of tribal rank, Melanostomini, Bacchini and Syrphini, and that Syrphini contained the former tribes Paragini and Toxomerini.

Flower fly on Blue-eyed Grass...

Seen this little bee-like fly on I think some kind of Blue-eyed Grass that was blooming. Both flower and flower fly were real small. The flowers were smaller then some prairie blossom flowers even.

male

Dan W. Andree
Spring 2024

Location: On a prairie in Norman Co. Mn.

Seen this little bee-like fly on I think some kind of Blue-eyed Grass that was blooming. Both flower and flower fly were real small. The flowers were smaller then some prairie blossom flowers even.

Location: Albany, NY

Location: Olmsted County

Location: Woodbury, MN

Location: Woodbury, MN