Melanostoma scalare?

[PeterD]

Please confirm (or otherwise). Learner Driver here




Thanks

[JRsbugs]

Correct! M. mellinum has mostly black on the face, scalare has a pale face, from what I can see yours has a pale face.

Janet

[Geoff F]

But the abdomen does appear to be a bit on the short side; although that may well just be the camera angle.

[PeterD]

Thank you Janet and Geoff. This is Melanostoma mellinum, I believe.

[Jason Green]

Afternoon Peter,

Your second is a female Melanostoma scalare - note the large dust spots (the silver triangles, sat with the points facing each other).

Take care,

Jason

[PeterD]

Originally Posted by Jason Green

Afternoon Peter,

Your second is a female Melanostoma scalare - note the large dust spots (the silver triangles, sat with the points facing each other).

Take care,

Jason

Good evening Jason,

And there was I thinking I was on a roll. Thanks for putting me right.

[Jason Green]

You are, it was just a tiny detail thing - you had the correct genus after all!

[Matt Smith]

Originally Posted by JRsbugs

Correct! M. mellinum has mostly black on the face, scalare has a pale face, from what I can see yours has a pale face.

You fly is certainly a Melanostoma, but it is impossible to ID this any further from this photo. The key feature separating the males of Melanostoma scalare and M.mellinum is the relative length of the first tergite, M.mellinum has a "long" first tergite (T1), at least 1.5 times longer than wide, while M.scalare a "short" T1. The angle of this photo is such that you cannot see T1 well enough to decide.

Matt

[Jason Green]

Matt, would this scale thing of mellinum's equate over to give scalare a first tergite length of half it's width?

Very interesting, and something I didn't know.

[Matt Smith]

T1 on male M.scalare is "about as wide as long", so it makes for a fairly easy field det when separating these 2 hoverfly species, M.mellinum is the "long" one and M.scalare the "normal" one.