External images
The face protrudes forwards as a long snout which tapers to a point. The body has dark ground colour. The male has triangular orange markings on the tergites (especially on tergite 2). Female markings are orange or grey. The stigma is in the form of a dark patch between the veins.
Wetlands including bog, fen and marsh, pond-side and riverine fen and alluvial wetlands, such as oxbow lakes. Flowers visited include Alisma plantago-aquatica, Caltha, Cardamine pratense, Cicuta viros, Lythrum salicaria, Menyanthes trifoliata, Nymphaea alba, Potentilla anserina, Ranunculus, Lychnis flos-cuculi, Sorbus aucuparia, Crataegus and Anthriscus sylvestris.[8][9]
The larva is aquatic and microphagous in rotting plant debris. It is illustrated by Rotheray (1993)[10]
^Ball, S.G.; Morris, R.K.A. (2000). Provisional atlas of British hoverflies (Diptera, Syrphidae). Monks Wood, UK: Biological Record Centre. pp. 167 pages. ISBN1-870393-54-6.
^Van Veen, M.P. (2004). Hoverflies of Northwest Europe, Identification Keys to the Syrphidae (hardback). Utrecht: KNNV Publishing. p. 254. ISBN90-5011-199-8.
^Coe, R.L. (1953) Diptera: Syrphidae. Handbks.ident.Br.insects, 10(1): 1-98. R.ent.Soc.London.pdfArchived 2018-10-04 at the Wayback Machine
^Van Veen, M. (2004) Hoverflies of Northwest Europe: identification keys to the Syrphidae. 256pp. KNNV Publishing, Utrecht.
^Van der Goot, V.S. (1981)De zweefvliegen van Noordwest - Europa en Europees Rusland, in het bijzonder van de Benelux. KNNV, Uitgave no.32: 275pp. Amsterdam.
^Bei-Bienko, G.Y. & Steyskal, G.C. (1988a) Keys to the Insects of the European Part of the USSR, Volume V: Diptera and Siphonaptera, Part I. Amerind Publishing Co., New Delhi. ISBN81-205-0080-6.
^de Buck, N. (1990) Bloembezoek en bestuivingsecologie van Zweefvliegen (Diptera, Syrphidae) in het bijzonder voor België. Doc.Trav. IRSNB, no.60, 1-167.
^Rotheray G., 1993 Colour Guide to Hoverfly Larvae Diptera, Syrphidae in Britain and Europe Dipterists Forum pdfArchived 2019-04-03 at the Wayback Machine