Platycheirus rosarum

Platycheirus rosarum
male
female
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Diptera
Family:	Syrphidae
Genus:	Platycheirus
Subgenus:	Pyrophaena
Species:	P. rosarum
Binomial name
Platycheirus rosarum (Fabricius, 1787)
Synonyms
Pyrophaena rosarum (Fabricius, 1787)

Platycheirus rosarum is a species of hoverfly found in many parts of Britain and Europe. Like its close relative Platycheirus granditarsus it can be found in marshy meadows and ditches; indeed, the two species can often be found together. The flight time is between May and October though it peaks in abundance in June and July. The most distinctive feature of this fly is the pair of yellowish spots on tergite 2 on an otherwise completely black abdomen.^[1][2][3][4]

References

1. Ball, S.G.; Morris, R.K.A. (2000). Provisional atlas of British hoverflies (Diptera, Syrphidae). Monks Wood, UK: Biological Record Centre. pp. 167 pages. ISBN 1-870393-54-6.
2. Speight, M.C.D. (2011). "Species accounts of European Syrphidae (Diptera)" (PDF). Syrph the Net, the database of European Syrphidae 65: 285pp.
3. Stubbs, Alan E.; Falk, Steven J (1983). British Hoverflies: An Illustrated Identification Guide (2nd ed.). London: British Entomological and Natural History Society. pp. 253, xvpp. ISBN 1-899935-03-7.
4. Van Veen, M.P. (2004). Hoverflies of Northwest Europe, Identification Keys to the Syrphidae (Hardback). Utrecht: KNNV Publishing. p. 254. ISBN 90-5011-199-8.