Cheilosia longula

[stuart]

Cheilosia longula (Zetterstedt, [1838])

Identification ease/difficulty: 3

Sources of information

• Page 170 in Stubbs & Falk (1983)
• Larval plate Pl. 2c, 2d in Rotheray (1993)
• Map here and page 33 in Ball & Morris (2000)
• Page 253, Pl. D, fig. 1 in Stubbs & Falk (2002)

[stuart]

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

Cheilosia longula (Zetterstedt, 1838)

Biology: The larvae inhabit the fruiting bodies of large fungi including Boletus, Suillus and Leccinum. The occupied fruiting body eventually loses its shape and becomes a brown smudge on the ground. Adults are usually found along woodland (deciduous and coniferous) edges and rides, or in glades where they can often be found on sun-lit vegetation. A range of flowers including white umbels and yellow composites are visited

Distribution: This species is widely distributed throughout Britain. It is frequent in both the north and south of England, where it occurs in acidic, sandy locations, especially heathland, but there are comparatively few records from similarly well-recorded parts of the English Midlands