Syrphidae of New York State

Neoascia larvae have been recovered from wet manure in farmyards, and decaying vegetation at the edges of ponds.

[7] In 1925 Curran reviewed the Genus Neoascia [8] Four species Orthonevra (Macquart, 1829) of these small dark metallic flies are found in New York.

[12][13] These are distinctive small flies with a thin elongate abdomen and enlarged hind femur often with spines and or teeth.

Rotheray[7] has described European species and habitats as well as a key to larvae including sphegina and other syrphid genera.

[16] New York species can also be found southward especially in the Appalachian Mountains and also north to the New England States.

There are various keys online, Covert 1977[16] Hull, 1935 [17] and Malloch, 1922 [18] Only one species of this tribe is found in New york in the genus Callicera (Panzer, 1809).

Eristalis along with many sister species has the r4+5 vein making a distinct loop towards the rear of the wing.

[39] The eyes on Spilomyia species are a distinctive characteristic which usually display vertical, and irregular stripes or blotches.

This tribe contains 5 genera and 8 species found in New York State This is a very large genus of little black flies with larvae feeding on plants or fungi.

[11] Pelecocera (Meigen, 1822) [32] only reported from Long Island but may be more common as the small size and habit of staying in low lying flowers may make this fly under-reported.

Copestylum (Macquart, 1846) due to the larval habit of living in Bromeliads only one species is found in New York.

The larvae of most species live in nests of bumblebees and social wasps, where they are detritivores and larval predators.

In New York state Platycheirus is divided into seven morphological groups based on the shape and ornamentation of the front tarsi and tibia and other characteristics.

Epistrophella emarginata (Say, 1823) Slender Smoothtail Leucozona (Schiner, 1860) with one distinct species in New York.