The alula is a hinged flap found at the base of the wings of most brachyceran Diptera. The alula accounts for up to 10 per cent of the total wing area in hoverflies (Syrphidae), and its hinged arrangement allows the wings to be swept back over the thorax and abdomen at rest. The alula is actuated via the third axillary sclerite, which is a component of the wing hinge that is involved in wing re...

after heavy rainfalls in late apr. of 2010 in tehran, an epizootic occurred amongst hoverflies (eupeodes corollae fabricius) population in green spaces of iranian research institute of plant protection, caused by an entomopathogenic fungus. infected flies fixed to the upper parts of whitetop (lepidium draba l.) and small tumbleweed mustard (sisymbrium loeslii l.) plants with their proboscis and...

The causes and consequences of flower constancy have been the focus of many studies, but almost all have examined the foraging behavior of bumblebees, honeybees, or butterflies. We test whether constancy occurs in an overlooked group of pollinators, the syrphid flies. Foraging sequences of wild flies of two species, Episyrphus balteatus and Syrphus ribesii, were examined when visiting flowers i...

We describe eleven polymorphic microsatellite loci developed for Blera fallax using ‘next generation’ 454 whole genome shotgun sequencing, along with conditions for three multiplex PCR reactions. We tested allelic variation on forty B. fallax individuals from Scotland and Sweden. Allelic richness and expected heterozygosity were 3.03 ± 0.274 (mean ± Standard Deviation) and 0.391 ± 0.057 respect...