Guide to the Syrphinae of Australia
Australian hoverflies are a fascinating bunch. The fauna are dominated by the subfamily Eristalinae, there are only just over 30 from the subfamily Syrphinae.
There seem to be a few other species on iNat in Australia that are either undescribed or just not yet known from Australia. There are also a couple of genera where there are significant taxonomic difficulties.
As always when I create something like this I want to stress that I claim no expertise; I simply enjoy learning and investigating these things, and I hope it is worth sharing what I have found. Please let me know of any corrections that need to be made.
Most of the images in the slides below are by @reiner, other observers are credited where their photos appear. Thanks to everyone who has made their pictures available. It's been great engaging with these hoverflies that I can't get close to myself, and the iNat community observing them, from the other side of the world. I was especially delighted when my first response to a request for a photo actually began with the word "G'day" !
Anyway, the slides below include a key to the genera (or some groups of genera) that should help narrow down what you need to look at, and each genus is listed in alphabetical order and treated in one or two slides.
I have based the list of species on those said to be present in Australia in Thompson and Vockeroth's Catalog of the Diptera of Australasia and Oceania, and the Atlas of Living Australia. In a few places there are difficulties, or interesting iNat observations that suggest the presence of species not on the usual lists: I've given some of my own thoughts in those cases, but it should be clear that they are simply my thoughts.
The genus Melangyna (subgenus Austrosyrphus) poses particular difficulties and I have declined to try and indicate how to identify the six listed species. Instead I have given an indication of the diversity of the genus. I hope to do a separate journal post on this group at some point. I have taken a similar approach to Asarkina and Citrogramma.
So here it is: hope it's of some use.
Species or genera discussed [square brackets indicate doubtful presence, or near-Australian species mentioned], (Parentheses give extra informatrion):
Allobaccha monobia, A. siphanticida, [A. amphithoe, possible others]
Allograpta alamaculata, A. australe, A. notiale, A. terraenovae, [possible something else]
Asarkina (only A. ericetarum is listed for Australia but...)
Asiobaccha bicolor, A. notofasciata
Betasyrphus serarius
Citrogramma (C. australe and C. notiale are the two listed species for Australia)
Dideopsis aegrota
Episyrphus glaber, E oliviae, E viridaureus
Eupeodes confrater
Ischiodon scutellaris
Melangyna (Austrosyrphus) (the six species listed for Australia are M. ambusta, M. collata, M. damastor, M. jacksoni, M. sellenyi, and M. viridiceps)
Melanostoma apicale
Paragus crenulatus, P. politus, [P. villipennis]
Simosyrphus grandicornis
Sphaerophoria macrogaster
Xanthandrus agrolas
תגובות
@ausemade @coddiwompler @cole0ptera @dan_bishop @dawolef @gedtranter @lachlancopeland @larney @mscaus @nellsgross @peter_yeeles @pmmridge @sjmurray55 @squiresk @scottwgavins @sdoug7405 @simono @stevekerr thank you for your photos.
@edanko @zdanko @tony_d @ximo_mengual this may be of interest. Do let me know if you find errors.
Good work! I probably won't try to key them out myself but it is good to see what parts are key to IDing them so I know what to try to include in my photos. I see more than I record because they often fly away when I try to get close for a photo.
Great addition to the knowledge of Australian Syrphinae. I'll try and get to grips with some of the IDing for the species in my garden!
A suggestion for getting a photo if you have difficulty outside: lower a glass jar over the flower and hover fly on a cool morning when they are moving a bit more slowly. Place jar (with lid) in fridge for 30 mins. You should be able to then photograph the refrigerated hoverfly indoors in good light (a sunny window works well with an additional anglepoise light). Then allow the hoverfly to warm up in the jar and release when starts to fly around. Seemed to work well on the one occasion that I tried it. A plant pot with perennial basil or yellow South African bush daisies will produce flowers at eye height and make it easier to photograph them (especially for oldies like me!).
Thanks for all your IDs and hard work Matthew.
Great work, Matthew! This is a great resource!! It's interesting how little diversity there is in this region.
Minor suggestions: Reading white text on a dark background hurts my eyes, and I prefer a lighter background. I'm also partly colorblind, and it's difficult for me to read the red text, and the text and arrows for the images are also mostly difficult to see. If you could put a white highlight on the image captions, that would be very helpful.
@zdanko when you say a white highlight on the image captions, are you referring to the black text on the pictures, and do you mean like a white border the same as in the red titles at the top left?
The general colouration is is based on the Australian flag, which is why it's white on dark blue with white-bordered red in the top left :) I can probably do something about the red hyperlinks at least... hmmm will have a think
Yes, the text over the pictures, and I mean a highlight (i.e., the highlighter icon when selecting text?).
r.e. coloration: Gotcha, in that case, could you make the background white with blue and red text? I understand it's not quite the same but at least it would have the right color-scheme. I am just one user, though, so I understand if you decide not to.
@zdanko oh I see. I'll have a go, but it'll take a little time.
@zdanko I've made some changes chiefly to the diagrams - a washout behind the text and arrows either black with a white glow or white where that didn't work. I've changed the hyperlinks to white italic. I've kept the main text as it is though - partly since I usually use dark modes online where they are available because on screens I find light-on-dark easier on the eye(!) so I'm conscious that it can go either way for different people; but I've made the text slightly less white so the contrast isn't as harsh which might help. I tend to mix up the colour schemes anyway and most are black on pale.
That is definitely much better, thank you!
nice work Matthew, very useful (and G'day again!)
Great document, thank you for all that work
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