#3783 · 🪰 flies & mosquitoes

Ladder-backed Hover Fly

🇳🇱 Slanke Driehoekzweefvlieg ·Melanostoma scalare

🪰 Flies & mosquitoes 📍 in the Netherlands

10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

1. © Gábor Keresztes · CC BY-NC 4.0
2. © Michael Knapp · CC BY 4.0
3. © Iain Robson · CC0
4. © Michael Knapp · CC BY 4.0
5. © Rasmus Allesoee · CC BY-NC 4.0
6. © Rasmus Allesoee · CC BY-NC 4.0
7. Noord Tilburg, Tilburg, Nederland:© Mark Schellekens · CC BY-NC 4.0
8. Groesbeek, Nieuweweg 65, Nederland:© Herman Berteler · CC BY-NC 4.0
9. 2211 Noordwijkerhout, Nederland:© Michel Langeveld · CC BY 4.0
10. Groesbeek, Nederland:© Herman Berteler · CC BY-NC 4.0

what is it?

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.

base stats

NL sightings 231iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 8,096iNaturalist observations

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

Spotted 231 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #32 most seen of the flies & mosquitoes in NL.
8,096 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1794 (232 years ago).