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Microdon mutabilis

Species of fly From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Microdon mutabilis
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Microdon mutabilis, is a species of hoverfly. It is found in many parts of Britain and Europe. The distinctive almost slug-like larvae live in ants' nests.[1] They are hemispherical in shape, heavily armoured and believed to prey on the eggs and larvae of a number of ant species, including Formica lemani, Formica fusca, Lasius niger and Myrmica ruginodis.[2] It was described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.[3]

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Description

Wing length 6–9 mm. Pterostigma 2-2.5 times as long as the length of the wing margin between ends of wing veins R1 and R2+3. Scutellum red or dark red. The male genitalia are figured by Doczkal and Schmid (1999).[4] Note M. mutabilis is only reliably distinguished from M. myrmicae by features of the puparium. See references for determination.[5][6] [7][8][9]

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References

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