Meliscaeva species are motly Oriental, but M. cinctella is well spread in North America and Europe. Meliscaeva species have eye bare; metasternum bare; metapisternum bare; anterior anepisternum usually pillose; and wing margin with a series of minute closely spaced black maculae on posterior margin.
New description:
MALE.
Head: Face with facial tubercle, yellow, densely white pollinose except medial vitta and lunule, yellow pilose; gena yellow; frontal triangle yellow, densely white pollinose, yellow pilose; somtimes lunule black; vertical triangle black, black pilose; antenna orangish, basoflagellomere darker dorsally; occiput black, white pollinose, withish-yellow pilose.
Thorax: Scutum subshiny black, very densely pollinose anteriorly, yellow pilose; postpronotum bare; notopleuron black, densely pollinose yellow pilose; scutellum yellow, black pilose, subscutellar fringe complete with yellow pile. Pleuron black, white pollinose, yellow pilose; anterior anepisternum pilose; metasternum bare; calypter yellow; plumula yellow; halter yellow; spiracular fringes yellow. Wing: Wing membrane hyaline, microtrichose with broad bare areas on basal. Alula broad, microtrichose. Legs: Entirely yellow except metafemur with subapical dark ring, and metatibia and metatarsus dark brown.
Abdomen: Parallel-sided, unmargined. Dorsum mainly black with yellow markings, mostly yellow pilose wxcept on black areas dorsally; 1st tergum black, silvery pollinose; 2nd tergum black with 2 mesolateral broad subtriangular yellow maculae, anteriorly pollinose; 3rd-5th terga black with subbasal broad yellow fascia strongly emarginated on posterior margin and not reaching lateral margins; sterna yellow, yellow pilose; male genitalia small.
FEMALE.
Similar to male excepts as follows: lunule black, frons with medial black vitta reaching ocellar triangle; pleuron black except posterior anepisternum and dorsomedial anepimeron yellowish close to wing base; abdomen with similar markings but fascia more parallel to anterior margin and not emarginated.
Meliscaeva cinctella (Zetterstedt, 1843).
Zetterstedt, J.W. (1842-1860) Diptera Scandinaviae ...Vol. 1, pp. iii-xvi+440 [before 1842.09.06]; vol. 2, pp. 441-894 [1843.05.02]; vol. 3, pp. 895-1012 [1844.03.20], 1013-1280 [1845.04.09]; vol. 4, pp. 1281-1738 [1845.06.11]; vol. 5, pp. 1739-2162 [1846.09.03]; vol. 6, pp. 2163-2580 [1847.06.09]; vol. 7, pp. 2581-2934 [1848.09.13]; vol. 8, pp. 2935-3366 [1849.09.12]; vol. 9, pp. 3367-3710 [1850.??.??]; vol. 10, pp. 3711-4090 [1851.??.??]; vol. 11, pp. 4091-4545 [1852.03.10]; vol. 12, pp. xx + 4547-4942 [1855.07.??]; vol. 13, pp. xvi+ 4943-6190 [1859.09.01 preface]; vol. 14, pp. iv + 6191-6609 [1860.12.12]. Officina Lundbergiana, Lundae [=Lund.]
Synonyms:
Syrphus formosana Shiraki, 1930: 388.
Scaeva cinctella Zetterstedt, 1843: 742.
Syrphus diversipes Macquart, 1850: 459.
Meliscaeva cinctelloides Ghorpade, 1994: 11.
By some authors Meliscaeva species have been included in the genus Episyrphus. Rotheray and Gilbert (1989) reported Meliscaeva as sister group of several genera, being Syrphus the closest one. A similar position was reported by them in 1999. Mengual et al. (2008) included M. cinctella and M. auricollis in their molecular analysis and the genus was recovered monophyletic and as sister group of Episyrphus. The genus Asarkina was resolved as sister group of them. The novelty of this placement is that this clade was the sister group of Allograpta + Spaherophoria, not related with the traditional Syrphus-related genera.
Flowers visited by adults: white umbellifers; Acer pseudoplatanus, Crataegus, Euphorbia, Ilex, Ligustrum, Lonicera periclymenum, Origanum vulgare, Polygonum cuspidatum, Potentilla erecta, Prunus spinosa, Ranunculus, Rhododendron, Rubus fruticosus, R. idaeus, Salix, Sambucus, Senecio jacobaea, Solidago virgaurea, Sorbus aucupareia, Taraxacum (Speight 2010).
Larvae of M. cinctella have been reported feeding on aphids (Aphididae) and psyllids (Psyllidae) (see Rojo et al. 2003 for more details).
Flight period for this species in Europe: April/September, with peaks in May/June and August and occasional specimens on into October (Speight 2010).
Holarctic species with a wide distribution. In Palaearctic, from Fennoscandia south to Iberia, the Mediterranean and North of Africa; from Ireland eastwards through most of Europe into Turkey and European parts of Russia; Siberia from the Urals to the Pacific coast (Kuril Isles). In the Nearctic, from Alaska to Labrador, south to California, Colorado and North Carolina.
Adult inhabitat clearings, tracksides, flower beds etc.; they fly around foliage of low-growing plants, bushes, shrubs and trees; males hover over paths etc. at 3 - 5 m (Speight 2010).
Preferred environment by adults: forest and scrub, both deciduous and coniferous and conifer plantations; to a significant extent anthropophilic, occurring also in hedgerows and suburban gardens and parks (Speight 2010).
Larva (from Speight 2010): assuming that the definitions of the larvae of Meliscaeva species incorporated into Rotheray's (1993) keys are correct, the description of the larva of this species provided by Dixon (1960) relates to M. auricollis, and her description of the larva of M. auricollis relates to M. cinctella. Branquart (1999) provides extensive information on the developmental stages of this species under laboratory conditions, and shows that development time (from egg-laying to eclosion of adult) can be as little as 4 weeks. The larva is aphid feeding, on bushes, shrubs, for example Sarrothamnus scoparius - Dixon (1960) as M. auricollis - and trees; Kula (1982) records larvae of this species as overwintering among leaf litter on the floor of spruce (Picea) forest.
Larva (from Dixon 1960 as M. auricollis).
Length 10-11 mm., width 2.5 mm., height 2.5 mm.; body transparent, colourless; adipose tissue appearing dorsally as a white mass; an orange line on either side connected by a transverse bar; fleshy projections and prominences absent; integumental vestiture absent; body finely papillose, shining; segmental ornamentation typical, microscopic. Posterior respiratory process: mounted on a basal cylindrical fleshy process; as long as broad; constricted two-thirds along length from the base; smooth; rounded at apex; a deep wide median groove present; circular plates anterior, and towards borders of median groove; dorsal spurs represented by a ridge along inner borders of circular plates; interspiracular ornamentation of four pairs of dark elongate nodules; spiracles straight, mounted on black carinae; II nearer to III than to I.
unless otherwise stated