Wing length: 5.25–6.75 mm (0.207–0.266 in). Black with dark wings. Male thorax and scutellar dorsum with a mixture of long and short hairs, varying from completely yellowish to a large portion of dark hairs. Face broad: width of the head/width of the face under the antennae: 1.91–2.08. Female thoracic dorsum with long, erect black to grey hairs. The male genitalia are figured by Maibach and Goeldlin de Tiefenau (1994).[6] The larva is figured by Hartley (1961).[7]
Wetland, fen, marsh, waterside pasture, along woodland streams, beside ponds, lakes, and rivers.[9] Flowers visited include white umbellifers, Caltha, Euphorbia, Iris pseudacorus, Menyanthes, Mimulus guttatus, Potentilla erecta, Pyrus communis, Ranunculus, Sorbus aucuparia, Taraxacum, Viburnum opulus.[10]
Biology
The flight period is April to July. The larva is aquatic, associated with various aquatic plants, including Glyceria and Typha. The larvae tap the aerenchyma to gain their air supply.
^Stubbs, Alan E. & Falk, Steven J. (1983). British Hoverflies: An Illustrated Identification Guide (2nd (revised) ed.). British Entomological & Natural History Society. p. 275, xvpp. ISBN0-9502891-3-2.
^Van der Goot, V. S. (1981). De zweefvliegen van Noordwest - Europa en Europees Rusland, in het bijzonder van de Benelux (in Dutch). Vol. Uitgave. Amsterdam: KNNV Publishing.
^Bei-Bienko, G. Y.; Steyskal, G. C. (1988). Keys to the Insects of the European Part of the USSR. Vol. V: Diptera and Siphonaptera, Part I. New Delhi: Amerind Publishing Co. ISBN81-205-0080-6.
^Coe, R. L. (1953). "Diptera: Syrphidae"(PDF). Handbks.ident.Br.insects. 10 (1). R.ent.Soc.London: 1–98.
^Maibach, A.; Goeldlin de Tiefenau, P. (1994). "Limites génériques et caractéristiques taxonomiques de plusieurs genres de la Tribu des Chrysogasterini (Diptera: Syrphidae) III. Descriptions des stades immatures de plusieurs espèces ouest-paléarctiques". Rev.suisse Zool. (in French). 101: 369–411.
^Hartley, J. C. (1961). "A taxonomic account of the larvae of some British Syrphidae". Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 136: 505–573.
^Peck, L.V. (1988) "Syrphidae". In: Soos, A. & Papp, L. (eds.) Catalogue of Palaearctic Diptera, 8: 11-230. Akad.Kiado, Budapest.
^de Buck, N. (1990). "Bloembezoek en bestuivingsecologie van Zweefvliegen (Diptera, Syrphidae) in het bijzonder voor België". Doc.Trav. (in Dutch). IRSNB (60): 1–167.