Baccha elongata

Baccha elongata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Diptera
Family:	Syrphidae
Genus:	Baccha
Species:	B. elongata
Binomial name
Baccha elongata (Fabricius, 1794)
Synonyms
Baccha nigripennis Meigen, 1822 Baccha obscuripennis Meigen, 1822 Baccha perexilis (Harris, [1780]) Baccha scutellata Meigen, 1822 Baccha sphegina Meigen, 1822 Baccha tabida Meigen, 1822 Musca perexilis Harris, [1780] Syrphus elongatus Fabricius, 1794

Baccha elongata, female, lateral view

Baccha elongata, female hovering

Baccha elongata is a species of hoverfly (or flower fly) in the genus Baccha. The long, very slender body of this hoverfly is unmistakable. Members of the eristaline genus Sphegina are also very slender and can be found in similar habitat but those flies have a rather different enlarged hind femur, whereas in Baccha this feature is slender. As with most hoverfly species the sexes can be told apart by the male's eyes meeting on the top of the head, but separated in the female. One of the smaller hoverflies the wing length is around 4.5 to 8 mm.

As with most other members of the subfamily Syrphinae the larvae are predatory though there seems to be a preference for a variety of different ground-layer aphids.

This species overwinters as a larva and can be seen on the wing from spring until autumn. Generally it can be found in shady places low to the ground in woodlands and along hedgerows.

Common and widely distributed throughout Britain and Ireland wherever there is suitable habitat though easily overlooked due to its unobtrusive nature. Further afield the range includes the western palearctic and North America.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]}

References

1. Ball, Stuart; Morris, Roger (2013). Britain's Hoverflies: An Introduction to the Hoverflies of Britain. Woodstock, Oxfordshire: Princeton University Press. pp. 296pp. ISBN 978-0-691-15659-0.
2. Ball, S.G.; Morris, R.K.A. (2000). Provisional atlas of British hoverflies (Diptera, Syrphidae). Monks Wood, UK: Biological Record Centre. pp. 167 pages. ISBN 1-870393-54-6.
3. Morris, Roger K. A. (1999). Hoverflies of Surrey. Surrey Wildlife Trust. p. 244. ISBN 0-9526065-3-4.
4. Speight, M.C.D. (2011). "Species accounts of European Syrphidae (Diptera)" (PDF). Syrph the Net, the database of European Syrphidae. 65: 285pp.
5. Stubbs, Alan E.; Falk, Steven J (1983). British Hoverflies: An Illustrated Identification Guide (2nd ed.). London: British Entomological and Natural History Society. pp. 253, xvpp. ISBN 1-899935-03-7.
6. Van Veen, M.P. (2004). Hoverflies of Northwest Europe, Identification Keys to the Syrphidae (Hardback). Utrecht: KNNV Publishing. p. 254. ISBN 90-5011-199-8.
7. Vockeroth, J. R. (1992). The Flower Flies of the Subfamily Syrphinae of Canada, Alaska, and Greenland (Diptera: Syrphidae). Part 18. The Insects and Arachnids of Canada (PDF). Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Government Pub Centre. pp. 1–456. ISBN 0-660-13830-1.