Merodon equestris

TaxID: 511117

Basic Information

Merodon equestris

Greater Bulb-Fly, Narcissus Bulb Fly

Merodon equestris (Narcissus bulb fly, greater bulb fly, large bulb fly, large Narcissus fly) is a Holarctic species of hoverfly (Family Syrphidae). Like many other hoverflies it displays a colouration pattern similar to a stinging insect (a bumblebee in this case) as an evolutionary defense mechanism. Other syrphid bee mimics are Mallota, Arctophila, Criorhina, Pocota and Brachypalpus. Merodon species are distinguished from these by the very strong hind femora, which bear a large triangular projection on the underside near the tip. It flies in low vegetation while the other bumblebee mimics prefer higher vegetation layers.

from Wikipedia

Taxonomic Information

Metazoa

Arthropoda

Insecta

Diptera

Syrphidae

Merodon

equestris

unclassified

Photos (5 photos)

Merodon equestris
c
(c) Todd Boland@BY
Merodon equestris
c
(c) Bill Rodstrom@BY-NC
Merodon equestris
c
(c) Steve Kerr@BY
Merodon equestris
c
(c) S. Rae@BY
Merodon equestris
c
(c) JerryL2008@BY

Morphological Features

Adult body length 10–12.5 mm. Head: face and frons shiny black, covered with whitish-yellow hairs and silver-grey pollinosity; frons with shiny central stripe, greyish pollinosity laterally; frons from completely pale haired to bearing many black hairs on central stripe. Thorax: mesonotum with dark-gold metallic reflections, covered with erect yellow to reddish-yellow hairs and, in some morphs, partly with black hairs; scutellar hairs in two colour morphs: completely yellow-haired or with black hairs on posterior half and yellow hairs on postalar callus. Wing: pale-greyish, extensively microtrichose except along sides of veins in central part; veins dark except basally and on most of length of C, Sc and R1. Legs: hind femur with long hairs ventrally (hairs as long as femur width); hind tibia with a conspicuous central bulge ventrally; short hairs on legs predominantly black, long hairs on femur ranging from mostly yellow to mostly black. Abdomen: black with bronze reflections, as long as mesonotum; tergites I and II pale-haired; tergites III and IV with pale and black hairs.

Source: GBIF Life Stage: Adult Source Type: Scholarly article
Citation:

M. Ángeles Marcos-García, Ante Vujić, Antonio Ricarte, Gunilla Ståhls. 2011. Towards an integrated taxonomy of the<i>Merodon equestris</i>species complex (Diptera: Syrphidae) including description of a new species, with additional data on Iberian<i>Merodon</i>. The Canadian Entomologist

Host Plants (0 host plants)

Data sources: EPPO Global Database and relevant literature.

No host plants available.

Quarantine Status (12 records)

Data sources: IPPC website and national quarantine websites; verified by human review.

Country Status Year Added
Chile Quarantine pests 2024
Costa Rica Absent —
Dominican Republic Quarantine pests —
Ecuador Quarantine pests —
Egypt Abesent 2018
Greece Quarantine pests —
India Quarantine pests —
Israel Quarantine pest 2009
Mexico Quarantine pests 2018
French Polynesia Absent —
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Distribution (42 countries)

Data Sources: EPPO Global Database and GBIF.

42
Present
0
Absent
0
Unknown/Other
Country Status State
Andorra Present —
Austria Present —
Belgium Present —
Bulgaria Present —
Belarus Present —
Canada Present —
Switzerland Present —
Czechia Present —
Germany Present —
Denmark Present —
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Distribution Map (Latitude and longitude coordinates sourced from GBIF.)

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Genomes (1 records)

Data source: NCBI.

Assembly Accession Assembly Level Genome Size(Mb) Contig N50(Kb) Scaffold N50(Kb) BUSCO% Downloads Actions
GCA_958301585.1 Chromosome 872 5555 129753 -

Transcriptomes (1 records)

Data source: NCBI.

Run ID Tissue Developmental Stage Sex Read Count Location Actions
ERR11837489 - - NOT PROVIDED 41232613 -

DNA Barcodes (0 records)

View all

Data source: BOLD.

No DNA barcode records available.

Literature