DESCRIPTION: Wing Length 6.5 - 10.25mm. A smart hoverfly with a yellow face that sports a black vertical stripe, a black thorax that has a yellow stripe running along each outer edge and a black abdomen with yellow markings on the tergites with those on T2 sharply angled and defined. The legs are orangey-yellow and the wings have a medium brown coloured stigma. BEHAVIOUR: The larva live in the nests of yellow or black ants of the genus Lasius. DISTRIBUTION: A scarce species found primarily in southern Britain. HABITAT: Short grassland or grazing marshes with appropriate ant species present. PERIOD: Late April to early September.