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| Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Syrphidae (hoverflies) |
Calliprobola; formerly Milesia
Adult flies. The flies hivebee-like (shaped like a queen hive bee, but much larger and spectacularly tinted), or vespid wasp-like (cf. Dolichovespula sylvestris and D. media); dark metallic green, with bands of golden abdominal hairs, and marked orange on the long legs; medium sized to large; 13–15 mm long. Wings 11–12.5 mm long.
The head wider than the thorax to about the same width as the thorax. The face ground-coloured at least part yellow; without a central knob. The eyes depicted as bare. Antennae relatively short, drooping; seated on a conspicuous prominence. The third antennal segment ovoid or orbicular. The antennal bristle dorsal; much longer than the third segment; simple (bare).
The humeri hairy, and readily visible behind the head. The thorax pubescent without stiff bristles interspersed; patterned, or plain (the female with two pale anterior-lateral spots); without longitudinal stripes. The scutellum somewhat convex, with undefined edge. Wings patterned to plain (darkened reddish-brown or orange towards the front edge and tip); divergent in repose. Wing veins R2+3 and R4+5 not forming a closed cell. The anterior cross vein R-M in cell R5 crossing it at or beyond the middle of the adjoining discal cell. Vein R4+5 without a conspicuous curve projecting into the cell R5; without a backwardly projecting, incomplete transverse veinlet. The lower outer marginal vein more or less parallel with the posterior wing margin. The upper and lower outer marginal cross veins strongly stepped. The upper outer marginal cross-vein conspicuously bent near the base the base; not re-entrant. The alula distinct.
The abdomen wider than the thorax to about the same width as the thorax (female), or about the same width as the thorax to narrower than the thorax; narrowly obovate. The male abdomen with 4 visible segments. The abdomen conspicuously furry to not conspicuously furry; contrastingly patterned (via the narrow bands of golden hairs at the bases of tergites 2, 3 and 4). The patterning attributable to the furry hair coat (or at least, to the hair bands). The spiracles of the third abdominal segment borne at or near the anterior corner of each side.
Larvae and pupae. The larvae tapering posteriorly; tailed. The anal segment abruptly constricted basally into the long, narrow tail (but not rat-tailed); shorter than the rest of the body (about half as long, markedly elongated between the second and third pair of lappets). The larvae flattened; pallid, plain; without thoracic hooks; mouth without triangular sclerites; anal segments with lappets. The larvae saprophagous; in rotten wood and in decaying tree roots (in rotting beech wood, especially old stumps).
Classification. Subfamily Milesiinae; tribe Xylotini.
British representation. 1 species in Britain (C. speciosa).
Illustrations. • Caliprobola speciosa (Beautiful Milesia Hover-fly: B. Ent. 034). • Caliprobola speciosa: B. Ent. 034, legend+text. • Caliprobola speciosa: B. Ent. 034, text cont.. • C. speciosa, female (with Ferdinandea, Mallota and Mallota). SYRPHIDAE. 1, Leucozona lucorum, male; 2, Ferdinandea cuprea, female; 3, Caliprobola speciosa, female; 4, Mallota cimbiciformis, male. Adapted from C.O. Hammond (Colyer and Hammond, 1968), with names updated. • C. speciosa, head: Verrall. • 15 genera (from Walker). 1, Ceriana conopsoides (adventive?), head in side view and extremity of wing. 2, Callicera aurata, with detail of antenna. 3, Microdon mutabilis, antenna and wing. 4, Eumerus strigatus, head in side view and wing. 5, Eristalis tenax: male head from above (5a), female head from the side (5b), and wing of female (5c). 6, Helophilus pendulus: head of male from above (6a) and from the side (6b), and extremity of wing (6c). 7, Merodon clavipes (extinct in Britain): head in side view, and hind leg of male. 8, Tropidia scita, male: head and extremity of wing. 9, Syritta pipiens, male, with head in side view (9a). 10, Xylota sylvarum, male: head (10a), antenna (10b), and base of hind leg showing coxa with a small spine (10d). 11, "Milesia speciosa" (Caliprobola speciosa?): head in side view (11a), wing extremity (11b), and base of hind leg (11c). 12, Criorhina berberina, with side view of head. 13, Volucella bombylans: side view of head (13a), antenna (13b), and wing extremity (13c). 14, Sericomyia silentis, with head from side (14a) and claw joint of tarsus (14b). 15, Orthoneura nobilis. From Walker (1851, Plate IX), with approximate lengths (head to abdominal tip) indicated.
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Syrphidae (hoverflies). Version: 27th July 2019. delta-intkey.com’.
