The species was discovered in Britain in 1945 by John Cowley at Loxley Wood and another woodland site near Shapwick in Somerset and identified by J. E. Collin.

J. C. Hartley found six larvae in a rot-hole at Ashton Court, Bristol in 1961, thus providing proof of the species' breeding in Britain.

In the Institute for Terrestrial Ecology's Provisional hoverfly atlas published in 2000, the species was listed as extinct.

During an English Nature-commissioned survey of Moccas Park National Nature Reserve in Herefordshire, Andy Godfrey found Myolepta potens larvae in a rot-hole.

Subsequent survey work revealed that there is a strong population at this site using rot holes in several different species of tree.