Platycheirus confusus

Platycheirus confusus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Diptera
Family:	Syrphidae
Genus:	Platycheirus
Species:	P. confusus
Binomial name
Platycheirus confusus (Curran, 1925)
Synonyms
Melanostoma confusus Curran, 1925

Platycheirus confusus, the Confusing Sedgesitter, is a species of syrphid fly in the family Syrphidae.

Description

For terminology Speight key to genera and glossary
external link to photos
Size 6–8.2 mm (0.24–0.32 in)
The face slopes downward slightly, and the front of the oral margin does not extend as far forward as the tubercle. A broad, shiny stripe runs down the center of the face from the lower facial margin almost to the antennae. The greyish pollinosity on the sides of the stripe appears to have faint oblique ripples. The legs are mostly dark, with only the tips of the femora and the basal three-quarters of the fore and mid tibiae being orange. On the upper two-thirds of the fore tibia, there is a row of weak, posterior setae, with the longest setae being approximately three times the diameter of the tibia. The mid tibia also has a similar row of setae on its upper two-thirds. The thorax has very sparse grey pollinosity, almost appearing bare. The longest scutellar pile is as long as the arista, while other thoracic piles are no longer than half the length of the scutellar pile. The upper half of the pleura usually has dark pile, while the lower half of the pleura has white pile. The halter is brown. The wing is typically brownish and almost entirely microtrichose, with only small bare patches near cells c and bm. The abdomen is parallel-sided, with brown spots on its tergites, some of which are overlaid with prominent silver pollinosity that may even merge medially on tergites 3 and 4. The lateral pile on the abdomen is mostly pale. The surstylus has a stout and almost straight lateral lobe.