DESCRIPTION: Wing Length 7 - 9mm. A small gingery looking hoverfly that needs careful examination to fully identify. Both sexes have a black thorax striped with orange and abdominal tergites that are black with obvious orange markings. Males are easily confused with similar species but the presence of a tuft of bristles on the hind femur makes for an accurate identification. Females are more tricky but in side view, the hairs of tergite 5 are all yellow and tergite 4 has black erect hairs in the posterior quarter. BEHAVIOUR: The rat-tailed larvae are aquatic in wet mud of pools and probably ditches and other water margins. DISTRIBUTION: Frequent but overlooked and becoming scarcer towards the North-West. HABITAT: Found in and around the marginal vegetation of damp areas where Bulrush occurs but can be found further afield. PERIOD: April to September.
