Heringia vitripennis

[stuart]

Heringia vitripennis (Meigen, 1822)

Nomenclature

• Neocnemodon vitripennis in Stubbs & Falk (1983)
• Neocnemodon vitripennis in RA33
• Neocnemodon vitripennis in Kloet & Hincks (1976)

Identification ease/difficulty: 4

Sources of information

• Page 207, Pl. 5, fig 11 (as Neocnemodon vitripennis) in Stubbs & Falk (1983)
• Map here and page 79 in Ball & Morris (2000)
• Page 311, Pl. 5, fig. 11 in Stubbs & Falk (2002)

[stuart]

Species account from Provisional atlas of British hoverflies, Ball & Morris, 2000.

Heringia vitripennis (Meigen, 1822) Cnemodon vitripennis Meigen in Coe (1953), Neocnemodon vitripennis (Meigen) in Stubbs & Falk (1983)

Biology: The larvae are predatory on adelgid bugs and have also been found attacking the woolly aphid Dreyfusia picea on Abies, and coccids on Populus italica. Associated with a range of woodland types including conifer plantations and even urban parks and mature gardens. Adults visit a range of low growing flowers, but also flowering shrubs. They have been caught in numbers in water traps set among Rubus

Distribution: Though still infrequent, this is the least scarce member of the genus. Records are concentrated towards the south-east, but there are scattered records from Wales, northern England and Scotland. This species was separated from H. pubescens in 1955 and earlier records of these two species are likely to be confused