Females are distinguished from both by having entirely yellow hind femora, and from the latter by having no hairs present in their eyes.

Males also have bare eyes, unlike S. torvus, but are extremely similar to S. vitripennis, differing only in having some black hairs present on the hind femur and in having the second basal cell of the wing entirely covered by microtrichia.

[4][5][6][7][8] Palearctic: Fennoscandia south to Iberia and the Mediterranean basin, Ireland eastward through Europe into Turkey, European Russia and Afghanistan.

Also ranges from Urals to Siberia and Russian Far East to the Pacific coast (Kuril Isles) and Japan.

[12] It is synanthropic, occurring in farmland, orchards, horticultural land, suburban gardens and parks.