Eristalis pertinax is a hoverfly in the family Syrphidae. It was first described by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1763 and is found in Asia and Europe. Like Eristalis tenax, the larvae of E. pertinax are rat-tailed maggots living in drainage ditches, pools around manure piles, sewage, and similar places containing water with high organic load and low oxygen concentration.
Description
External images
For terms see Morphology of Diptera
Wing length is 8.25–12.75 mm. Antennomere 3 brown-black. Arista plumose to tip. Tarsi 1 and 2 entirely yellow. Wing with diffusely bordered darkened median band and pterostigma four times as long as wide. Dimorphic (males with triangular abdomen, females with squarish abdomen).[2][3][4][5]
The male genitalia are figured by Hippa et al. (2001).[6] The larva is figured by Hartley (1961).[7]
The habitat is wetland, forest, alluvial forest, fen, farmland, suburban gardens and parks.[10] The flight period is February to November.
Gallery
Females of a European hoverfly ovipositing at a small pool in a forest near Marburg, Hesse, Germany
Wing detail
References
^Stubbs, Alan E.; Falk, Steven J. (1983). British Hoverflies: An Illustrated Identification Guide. British Entomological & Natural History Society. pp. 253, xvpp.
^Van Veen, M. (2004) Hoverflies of Northwest Europe: identification keys to the Syrphidae. 256pp. KNNV Publishing, Utrecht.addendum
^Van der Goot,V.S. (1981) De zweefvliegen van Noordwest - Europa en Europees Rusland, in het bijzonder van de Benelux. Koninklijke Nederlandse Natuurhistorische Vereniging, Uitgave no.32: 275pp. Amsterdam.
^Bei-Bienko, G.Y. & Steyskal, G.C. (1988) Keys to the Insects of the European Part of the USSR, Volume V: Diptera and Siphonaptera, Part I. Amerind Publishing Co., New Delhi. ISBN81-205-0080-6.
^Coe, R.L. (1953) Diptera: Syrphidae. Handbooks for Identification of British Insects, 10(1): 1–98. Royal Entomological Society of London. pdfArchived 2018-10-04 at the Wayback Machine
^Hippa, H., Nielsen, T.R. & van Steenis, J. (2001) "The west Palaearctic species of the genus Eristalis Latreille (Diptera, Surphidae)". Norwegian Journal of Entomology, 48: 289–327.
^Hartley, J.C. (1961) "A taxonomic account of the larvae of some British Syrphidae". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 136: 505–573.
