Taxonomic work Netherlands Syrphid Recording Scheme

 

Recognition key literature

 

Pipizella

Mark van Veen

 

Introduction

Pipizella swiftly flies through the vegetation at all kinds of sites. P. viduata is found in a range of situations, from damp forest edges to hot chalk grassland. P. virens is a therophilic species.

Recognition

Among the small, blackish hoverflies without clear facial knob and mouth edge, Pipizella is recognized because of the brownish tint and the dominance of golden hairs on thorax and legs. Their 3rd antennal segment is elongated, similar to Heringia sensu stricto and dissimilar to Neocnemodon and Pipiza.

Females cannot be distinguished. Males can quite easily be distinguished on basis of their genitalia. Each species has its own characteristics, one of the causes of the quite linear key below.

Key

The key is only valid for males and is based on Van der Goot (1981) and Verlinden (1999), omitting alpine and Southern European species from the latter.

1.a. Males -> 2

1.b. Females -> not treated, only females of P. virens and P. viduata can be separated.

 

2.a. Sternite 3 flat; wing clear or with weak median cloud -> 3

2.b. Sternite 3 with a transverse elevation, very convex; wing usually with a well developed median cloud; antennae: 3rd segment quite elongate; hypopygium black haired. 6-8 mm -> Pipizella maculipennis Meigen

 

3.a. Sternite 4 flat or the hind margin with a broad rounded elevation under which the genitalia are normally tucked in -> 4

3.b. Sternite 4 with two lateral elevations; genital capsule voluminous; genitalia: Epandrium large, in lateral view rounded posteriorly; epandrium arms already broad basally, widening even more apically; hypopigium black haired -> Pipizella pennina Goeldlin

 

4.a. Genitalia: surstyus black, without rounded appendage at basis -> 5

4.b. Genitalia: surstylus light brown or yellow, more or less translucent, the basal half broad, surpassing the epandrium arms, semicircular, exteriorly with a rounded appendage set at an angle -> Pipizella annulata Macquart
Jizz: rather stout, fore and mid tibiae and basitarsi more extensively and brighter yellow than other Pipizella, sharply contrasting against black top segments of tarsi.

 

5.a. Genitalia: epandrium arms not flattened and widened, strongly bend forwards; surstyli as wide as epandrium arms -> 6

5.b. Genitalia: epandrium very large, epandrium arms flattened and widened, strongly bend forward; surstylus very small, much narrower than epandrium arms; genital capsule voluminous and therefore sternite 4 narrow -> Pipizella divicoi Goeldlin

 

6.a. Tergite 2-4 black haired on disk, particularly near fore and hind margins; genital capsule not so conspicuously small; surstyli shorter than epandrium -> 7

6.b. Tergite 4, and often 2 and 3, entirely pale haired, rarely some black pile naer its front margin; genital capsule small and flat; genitalia: surstyli as long as epandrium, in side view flattened and linear; hypopygium pale haired. 6-7 mm -> Pipizella zeggenensis Goeldlin

 

7.a. Genitalia: epandrium arms clearly present, about 1/4th of epandrium height, surstylus about half the length of the epandrium, without dorsal keel. Male and Female: hind tibia: hair fringe not so long and normally all white. 6-7 mm -> Pipizella viduata Linnaeus (= pipizella varipes Meigen)
Jizz: smaller species.

7.b. Genitalia: epandrium arms very small or absent, epandrium about square, surstyli about three quarters of the epandrium length, with a dorsal keel. Male and Female: hind tibia: with a longer hair fringe, many hairs twice as long as the maximum diameter of the tibia, often many of these hairs black and strong. 7-8 mm -> Pipizella virens Fabricius
Jizz: larger, stout species, which always remindsme of a Eumerus at flight.  

Literature

Barendregt, A., 2001. Zweefvliegentabel, negende druk. Jeugdbondsuitgeverij, Utrecht, 1-96.

Bradescu, V. 1991. Les Syrphides de Roumanie (Diptera, Syrphidae), Clés de détermination et répartition. Trav.Mus.Hist. nat. Grigore Antipa, 31: 7-83.

Goeldlin de Tiefeneau P. 1974. Contribution a l'etude systematique et ecologique des Syrphides (Diptera) de la Suisse occidnetale. Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 47: 151-252.

Goot, V. S. van der, 1981. De zweefvliegen van Noordwest-Europa en Europees Rusland, in het bijzonder de Benelux. - Bibl. K. Ned. Natuurh. Veren. 32: 1-274.

Rotheray G.E. (1993) Colour guide to hoverfly larvae. Dipterist Digest 9. Whitely, Sheffield, UK.

Sack P. (1932) Syrphidae, In: Lindner E. Fliegen der Palaearktische Region, Teil 31. E. Nagele, Stuttgart.

Seguy, E. (1961) Dipteres Syrphides de l'Europe Occidentale. Memoires du Museum National d' histoire naturelle. Nouvelle Serie, Serie A, Zoologie, Tome XXIII. Paris.

Speight, M.C.D. (2000) Species accounts of European Syrphidae (Diptera): species of the Atlantic, Continental and Northern Regions. In: Speight, M.C.D., Castella, E., Obrdlik, P. and Ball, S. (eds.) Syrph the Net, the database of European Syrphidae , vol.20, 254 pp., Syrph the Net publications, Dublin

Torp, E., 1994. Danmarks Svirrefluer (Diptera: Syrphidae). Danmarks Dyreliv, Bind 6: 1-490. Apollo Books, Stenstrup.

Verlinden L., 1991. Zweefvliegen (Syrphidae). Fauna van België. Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen 39: 1-298, Brussel.

Verlinden L. 1999. A new Pipizella (Siptera, Syrphidae) from the French and Italian Alps, with a key to the Pipizella species of Central and Western Europe. Volucella 4: 11-28. Updated 3.11.2001