Another small dark hoverfly for ID

[Lord V]

Another small dark hoverfly- taken today Worthing Sussex in my garden- about 7mm body length. Seems to have distinctive dark patches on the wings- another Pipiza sp .?

Thanks for any info

Brian V.

[Geoff F]

Without checking the keys, I would suggest the first starting point is Pipiza lugubris.

But that is just a suggestion and not an identification!

[Geoff F]

Having now tried to fit the keys, I'm not really that much wiser.

Is the wing cloud dense with sharp edges, like P. lugubris or a fainter rather fuzzy edged mark?

Can I see some faint yellowish spots on tergite 2 or is that just a trick of the light?

If both of those last 2 questions answer yes, I would be more tempted to suggest P. noctiluca.

But this is a complicated species, as you are aware.

Perhaps Roger Morris might be tempted to give a more informed opinion. Or try asking this question on the Hoverfly Recording Site. http://www.hoverfly.org.uk/viewforum...284c3857af6f42 the people there are much cleverer than I am!

[Lord V]

Thanks for the deatiled reply Geoff - appreciated.
There are two feint yellow spots on tergite 2 (had to look up what a tergite was just to show my inorance of insect anatomy )

Brian V.

[Geoff F]

If there are smallish roughly rectangular spots I would think that P. noctiluca is the most likely here. P. fenestrata is similar but tends to have larger squarer spots.

But for a definite ID you need to count the hairs on the tergite edges! And although you have an excellent photo of the head with first class definition the relevant areas aren't shown.

Even then P. noctiluca gets sub divided into 6 recognised variations!