Species details

Syrphus torvus Osten Sacken, 1875

Biology

The larva feeds on a wide range of ground layer and arboreal aphids. Adults visit a wide range of flowers and often found around trees, typically along woodland edge and hedgerows, as well as in orchards and mature gardens. Like S. ribesii, it is multiple-brooded and has a long season, but it tends to show marked, and quite brief peaks of abundance in the spring and again in mid-summer.

Distribution

This hoverfly (especially the female) is probably overlooked amongst other Syrphus species. There has been a tendency to think of it as a southern species, but recent records suggest that it is also common in Scotland.