Tooth-thighed Hoverfly

Tropidia scita · Order: Diptera · Family: Syrphidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Tooth-thighed Hoverfly
Photo: Sandy Rae, CC BY-SA 3.0

The tooth-thighed hoverfly has a wing length of about 5.5 to 8.3 mm and a shiny black thorax with some dusted areas. Its abdomen shows yellow or orange on the second and third segments with a black central stripe. It lives around wetlands, ponds and ditches across the Palearctic from Fennoscandia to Japan, and its larvae develop in the basal sheaths of cattail plants (Typha).

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

The thorax dorsum is shiny black with some dusted parts.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

Wing length ranges from 5.5 to 8.25 mm (0.217 to 0.325 in).

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

It is commonly found in wetlands, ponds and ditches.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

Larvae live in the basal sheaths of Typha (cattail) plants.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Its Palearctic range extends from Fennoscandia south to central France, across Ireland, Central Europe, Russia, the Caucasus, Siberia, the Russian Far East, Japan and Formosa.

Source: Wikipedia

More photos

Tooth-thighed Hoverfly photo 3
Photo: Donald Hobern from Copenhagen, Denmark, CC BY 2.0
Tooth-thighed Hoverfly photo 4
Photo: This image is created by user B. Schoenmakers at Waarneming.nl, a source of nature observations in the Netherlands., CC BY 3.0
Tooth-thighed Hoverfly photo 5
Photo: Michel Langeveld, CC BY-SA
Tooth-thighed Hoverfly photo 6
Photo: AfroBrazilian, CC BY-SA

Same family (Syrphidae)

Common Drone FlyCommon Drone FlyEristalis tenaxHarmlessMarmalade Hover FlyMarmalade Hover FlyEpisyrphus balteatusMargined CalligrapherMargined CalligrapherToxomerus marginatusEastern CalligrapherEastern CalligrapherToxomerus geminatusYellow-haired Sun FlyYellow-haired Sun FlyMyathropa floreaThick-legged Hover FlyThick-legged Hover FlySyritta pipiens

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropidia_scita

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.

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