Meliscaeva cinctella
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Meliscaeva cinctella is a Holarctic species of hoverfly. For terms see Morphology of Diptera Wing length 7–9.75 mm. Elongated body. Lunula black with a black mark above it. Face entirely yellow. The alula is a narrow, rectangule. Tergite 2 with broad, square yellow marks. Tergites 3 and 4 with broad yellow bands which extend to the abdominal margin and have little points (one pointing forwards and the other backwards).
See references for determination. The male genitalia are figured by Hippa (1968). Larva described and figured by Rotheray (1994). Palearctic: Fennoscandia South to Iberia the Mediterranean basin. Ireland East through most of Europe, Turkey and European Russian then East to Siberia and the Russian Far East to the Pacific coast (Kuril Isles). Nearctic: Alaska south to California and Colorado.
The species' habitat includes deciduous and coniferous forest, hedgerows and suburban gardens and parks. Flowers visited include white umbellifers, Acer pseudoplatanus, Crataegus, Euphorbia, Ilex, Ligustrum, Lonicera periclymenum, Origanum vulgare, Polygonum cuspidatum, Potentilla erecta, Prunus spinosa, Ranunculus, Rhododendron... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pacific Rim National Park Reserve | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Great Bear Rainforest | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Gros Morne National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Redwood National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 9 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 10 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 11 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Moscow | 🇷🇺 Russia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Banded Thintail sighting in Olympic National Park on a given day, based on 6 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 162nd most-seen of the 207 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and August
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Banded Thintail in Olympic National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June–July and September–April, the lowest months. Those are among Olympic National Park's driest months, with about 70 mm of rain a month against 370 mm in November.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Banded Thintail sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
11th of 11
Of the 11 parks where we can rate Banded Thintail sightings, Olympic National Park ranks 11th at under 5%. The best odds are in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve (Canada, about 20%), Great Bear Rainforest (Canada, about 10%) and Acadia National Park (United States, about 10%).
Same family: Syrphidae
The closest relatives of the Banded Thintail that you can see in Olympic National Park (family Syrphidae, Hover Flies) are Common Drone Fly (about 10%), Western Pond Fly (about 10%) and Black-Margined Flower Fly (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Banded Thintail is recorded against all the insects logged in Olympic National Park (6 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
