Family: Syrphidae
Subfamily: Syrphinae
Length: 7-12 mm
This wide-ranging species is found from Colorado to Michigan and Quebec, south to Texas and Florida. It is also found in Central American and the Caribbean.
Adults are flying in West Virginia from June to September. The one pictured here was photographed perched on bed sheets drying outdoors in Upshur County in early July.
A key trait of genus Ocyptamus is the narrowing of the abdomen at its base.
In Ocyptamus fuscipennis the the wing is dark all along the anterior edge, and there is a clear spot at the posterior edge near the wing tip.
Like other members of the subfamily Syrphinae, the larva of this species develops on a diet of aphids and scale insects. The literature of economic entomology documents the importance of Ocyptamus fuscipennis to growers of citrus, papaya, pecan, and other crops.
Insects of West Virginia