Eristalinae

Eristalinae
Volucella zonaria ♀ specimen, dorsal perspective
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Syrphidae
Subfamily: Eristalinae
Tribes

See text

Synonyms
  • Cheilosiinae (Williston) Wirth & Stone, 1956
  • Cheilosinae (Williston) Curran, 1928
  • Chilosiinae (Williston) Malloch, 1922
  • Chilosinae Williston, 1885
  • Eristaliinae (Newman) Malloch, 1922
  • Eristalina (Newman) Rondani, 1856
  • Eristalinae (Newman) Rondani, 1857
  • Eristalites Newman, 1834
  • Eristaliti (Newman) Lioy, 1864
  • Eristilinae (Newman) Shannon, 1922

Eristalinae (or Milesiinae) are one of the four subfamilies of the fly family Syrphidae, or hoverflies. A well-known species included in this subfamily is the dronefly, Eristalis tenax.[1][2][3]

Species in this subfamily are often misclassified as bees instead of flies due to their exceptional Mimicry, especially to resemble Honeybees (family Apidae). The best strategy for proper identification is to look at their eyes and wings and compare with fly morphology, to determine membership of family Syrphidae and/or of order Hymenoptera.

  1. ^ Bartsch, Hans (2009). Tvåvingar: Blomflugor Diptera: Syrphidae: Eristalinae & Microdontinae [Flies: hoverfly Diptera: Syrphidae: Eristalinae & Microdontinae] (hardback). Nationalnyckeln/en/ (in Swedish). Vol. 2. The Swedish Taxonomy Initiative. pp. 1–478. ISBN 9789188506702.
  2. ^ Stubbs, Alan E.; Falk, Steven J. (2002). British Hoverflies: An Illustrated Identification Guide (2nd of Revised ed.). British Entomological and Natural History Society. p. 469. ISBN 978-1899935055.
  3. ^ Skevington, Jeffrey H (2019). Field Guide to the Flower Flies of Northeastern North America. ISBN 9780691189406.