Merodon (original) (raw)

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Genus of flies

Merodon
Merodon equestris the Narcissus bulb fly
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Section: Aschiza
Superfamily: Syrphoidea
Family: Syrphidae
Subfamily: Eristalinae
Genus: MerodonMeigen, 1803
Synonyms[1]
Lampetia Meigen, 1800 [2] Penthesilia Swinderen, 1822

Merodon is a large genus of bee-like hoverflies. The majority of the species are centered on the Mediterranean and it is the second largest hoverfly genus in Europe with more than 50 European species. It is distributed over the Palaearctic and Afrotropical realms, with most European species occurring in Southern and Eastern Europe. The centre of distribution of this genus appears to be Turkey, where about 65 species have been recorded. Some species occur in Africa (Morocco through East Africa and Ghana to South Africa) and the middle East, as far as Pakistan. Given the rate at which new species have been recorded over the past decades, the worldwide number of species could exceed 200. The larvae feed on the bulbs or rhizomes of monocotyledons.

Merodon sp.

One of the more common species in the genus, Merodon equestris is known as the Narcissus bulb fly, greater bulb-fly, large bulb fly or large Narcissus fly.

Species include:

  1. ^ Evenhuis, Neal L. (2020). "The hazards of Nomenclatural Archaeology? The Diptera names of Theodorus van Swinderen in his 1822 Index Rerum Naturalium quae conservantur in Museo Academico Groningano". Zootaxa. 4859 (3): 383–396. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4859.3.4.
  2. ^ Stubbs, Alan E. & Falk, Steven J. (1983). British Hoverflies: An Illustrated Identification Guide. British Entomological & Natural History Society. p. 253, xvpp. ISBN 1-899935-05-3.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Maria Angeles Marcos-García; Ante Vujic; Ximo Mengual (2007). "Revision of Iberian species of the genus Merodon (Diptera: Syrphidae)" (PDF). European Journal of Entomology. 104 (1): 531–572. ISSN 1210-5759. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  4. ^ Martin Hauser & Willem Hurkmans. (1997). "Eine neue Merodon Art aus Tunesien (Diptera: Syrphidae)" (PDF). Entomologische Zeitschrift. 107 (10): 423–428. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-10-20. Retrieved 2009-01-16.

General References for Merodon

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