Heringia pubescens

[stuart]

Heringia pubescens (Delucchi & Pschorn-Walcher, 1955)

Nomenclature

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

Identification ease/difficulty: 3

Status

• Notable (as Neocnemodon pubescens) in Falk (1991)

Sources of information

• Page 207 (as Neocnemodon pubescens) in Stubbs & Falk (1983)
• Map here and page 78 in Ball & Morris (2000)
• Page 311 in Stubbs & Falk (2002)

[stuart]

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

Heringia pubescens Delucchi & Pschorn-Walcher, 1955 Neocnemodon pubescens Delucchi & Pschorn-Walcher in Stubbs & Falk(1983)

Biology: The larvae undescribed. Associated with a range of deciduous and mixed woodland. Adults can be seen visiting flowers in woodland rides (for example, they were seen in abundance feeding on Mercurialis perennis pollen by Stubbs, (1996)), but they typically fly very close to the ground, making them difficult to spot

Distribution: There are few, scattered records, mostly from southern England, but also Wales, Yorkshire and the Scottish Highlands

[stuart]

Datasheet from the Review of Scarce and Threatened Diptera, Falk (1991).

NEOCNEMODON PUBESCENS Delucchi & Pschorn-Walcher NOTABLE

DISTRIBUTION The few records are widely dispersed in England (Dorset, Sussex, Surrey, Cambridgeshire, Herefordshire, Yorkshire) with an isolated record from Grantown, Elgin (1937).

HABITAT Woodland, probably associated with conifers.

ECOLOGY Known larvae of Neocnemodon species are arborial predators of adelgid plant bugs on conifers, though British records seem associated with broadleaved situations. Adults recorded in May and they have been observed in numbers feeding on pollen on male flowers of Mercurialis perennis.

STATUS Only about half a dozen known post 1960 sites. The secretive and perhaps canopy dwelling nature of the adults combined with some taxonomic difficulty in the genus (females cannot yet be identified) may have led to under recording. The Grantown record indicates that the species may be indigenous to the Scottish Highlands, though should the biology prove to relate to a non-native conifer, its native British status will need to be questioned.

THREAT Clearance of woodland for agriculture and intensive forestry.

MANAGEMENT Maintain open rides and clearings in woods with flowers for adult feeding.