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Ladder-backed Hover Fly
Melanostoma scalare
Melanostoma scalare, is a very common species of hoverfly. It is found in most of the Palearctic and in eastern parts of the Afrotropical realm south to Zimbabwe and throughout the Indomalayan realm to New Guinea. Little is known of its biology, However it is suspected to be general predator of small insects in leaf litter.
From the article Melanostoma scalare on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
Melanostoma scalare can reach a length of 7–10 mm (0.28–0.39 in). These hoverflies have a shining black thorax. The males are longer and slimmer than the females. Also, the male's abdomen is much thinner than that of the female. Further, the yellow markings of the male are roundish or diamond-shaped, while those of the female are triangular patches.
Range & habitat
This species is present in most of Europe, the Near East, North Africa, and the eastern parts of the Afrotropical realm south to Zimbabwe and throughout the Indomalayan realm to New Guinea.
Wikipedia: “Distribution”
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Every page naming Melanostoma scalare 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 70405.