External images
For terms, see: Morphology of Diptera.
Frons have broad and ill-defined pollinose spots, occupying more than 3/4 of frons. Marks on tergites 3 and 4 are about 1.5 times as broad as long. The 3rd tergite is distinctly less than twice as broad as long.
See references for determination.[4][5][6]
Distribution
Palearctic: Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium. Nearctic: Alaska south to California.[7][8][9]
Biology
Habitat: fen and poor fen, flushes and brooks in moor and bog.
[10]
It flies June to July. Playcheirus larvae feed on aphids on various low-growing plants and bushes.
^Ball, S.G.; Morris, R.K.A. (2000). Provisional atlas of British hoverflies (Diptera, Syrphidae). Monks Wood, UK: Biological Record Centre. pp. 167 pages. ISBN1-870393-54-6.
^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. KNNV, 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.
^Peck, L.V. (1988). "Syrphidae". In: Soos, A. & Papp, L. (eds.). Catalogue of Palaearctic Diptera8: 11-230. Akad. Kiado, Budapest.
^Vockeroth, J.R. (1992). The Flower Flies of the Subfamily Syrphinae of Canada, Alaska, and Greenland (Diptera: Syrphidae). Part 18. The Insects and Arachnids of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Government Pub Centre. pp. 1–456. ISBN0-660-13830-1.