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White-faced Plushback
Palpada albifrons
Palpada albifrons (Weidemann 1830), the White-faced Plushback , is a rare species of syrphid fly observed in from Mexico north-eastward along the coastal areas of the United States ( see map). Hoverflies can remain nearly motionless in flight. The adults are also known as flower flies, for they are commonly found on flowers from which they get both energy-giving nectar and protein-rich pollen. The larvae are aquatic.
From the article Palpada albifrons on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
For terminology seeSpeight key to genera and glossary Archived 2023-01-22 at the Wayback Machine
Length 8–9 mm (0.31–0.35 in)
Head The face is covered with white pollen and a thick white pile, which is more abundant and conspicuous on the frontal triangle. The facial stripe and gena are shining black. The eyes are pilose, Holoptic in the male. The antennae are obscurely reddish or brown, and the arista is bare.
Thorax The scutum is covered with yellowish-white pile in front, intermixed with blackish behind; in front of the suture is a conspicuous grayish, pollinose broad band, and on each side is an oblique spot reaching from the base of the wing backward toward the scutellum. The female of this species differs, having a complete grayish band on the scutum in front of the scutellum. The scutellum is yellow, with a narrowly black base and black pile.
Abdomen
The first segment of the abdomen is black, with yellow outer angles. The second segment is light yellow, with a narrow median, opaque black stripe not quite reaching the hind margin, which is a little broader in front, where it connects with the semicircular black below the scutellum. The third segment has an oval reddish-yellow spot on each side, confluent with the yellow of the preceding segment, and the hind border is yellow, with the black deep opaque without any shining spot or band. …
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Every page naming Palpada albifrons in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 329984.