Syrphus ribesii
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
Syrphus ribesii is a very common Holarctic species of hoverfly. Its larvae feed on aphids. In common with many other species of hoverfly, males have the eyes meeting on the top of the head, whilst females have their eyes widely separated.
Adults are very similar in appearance to Syrphus vitripennis and Syrphus torvus. 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. The male genitalia and the larva have been described.
Frons is posterior to the lunulae, shiny black. Sternites have lateral and median black marks. Male femora 3 is black for basal 2/3. Femora 3 is yellow. Lateral margins of tergites are black except at the ends of the yellow bands.
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... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 3 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Liverpool | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Leeds | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 6 | Dublin | 🇮🇪 Ireland | |
| 7 | Brussels | 🇧🇪 Belgium | |
| 8 | Cologne | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 9 | Essen | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 10 | Copenhagen | 🇩🇰 Denmark |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Flower Fly sighting in Essen on a given day, based on 14 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 211th most-seen of the 434 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March–May and August–September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Flower Fly in Essen on a given day, against under 5% in June–July and October–February, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Flower Fly sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
9th of 28
Of the 28 cities where we can rate Common Flower Fly sightings, Essen ranks 9th at about 10%. The best odds are in Birmingham (United Kingdom, about 20%), Liverpool (United Kingdom, about 10%) and Manchester (United Kingdom, about 10%).
Same family: Syrphidae
The closest relatives of the Common Flower Fly that you can see in Essen (family Syrphidae, Hover Flies) are Marmalade Hover Fly (about 20%), Common Drone Fly (about 10%) and Yellow-Haired Sun Fly (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Flower Fly is recorded against all the insects logged in Essen (14 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
