Eristalini

Eristalini
Eristalis tenax
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Diptera
Family:	Syrphidae
Subfamily:	Eristalinae
Tribe:	Eristalini
Subtribes
Eristalina Helophilina

Eristalini is a tribe of hoverflies. Several species are well-known honeybee mimics, such as the drone fly Eristalis tenax, while other genera such as Helophilus and Parhelophilus exhibit wasp-like patterns of yellow and black stripes, both strategies to avoid predation by visual predators such as birds.

They breed in decaying organic materials such as run-offs from dung heaps (Eristalis) or in ponds and ditches (e.g. Anasimyia). Some others, such as Myathropa and Mallota, breed in wet rotting tree stumps and rot holes.

A characteristic feature of this tribe is the "rat-tailed maggot" with a rear positioned telescopic breathing tube, allowing the larvae to breathe while living submerged in water or mud. This feature is also shared with another hoverfly tribe the Sericomyiini though those flies do not share the characteristic eristaline dip in wing vein R4+5.^[1]

List of genera

Thompson^[2] considers the tribe Sericomyiini a subtribe of the Eristalini while others separate it. Here it is included below for the sake of completeness.

Subtribe: Eristalina[2] Austalis Thompson & Vockeroth, 2003 Axona Walker, 1864 Digulia Meijere, 1913 Dissoptera Edwards, 1915 Eristalinus Rondani, 1845 Eristalis Latreille, 1804 Keda Curran, 1931 Kertesziomyia Shiraki, 1930 Lycastrirhyncha Bigot, 1859 Meromacroides Curran, 1927 Meromacrus Rondani, 1849 Palpada Macquart, 1834 Phytomia Guerin-Meneville, 1833 Senaspis Macquart, 1850 Simoides Loew, 1858 Solenaspis Osten Sacken, 1881

Subtribe: Helophilina[3] Anasimyia Schiner, 1864 Austrophilus Thompson, 2000 Chasmomma Bezzi, 1915 Dolichogyna Macquart, 1842 Habromyia Williston, 1888 Helophilus Meigen, 1822 Lejops Rondani, 1857 Mallota Meigen, 1822 Mesembrius Rondani, 1857 Myathropa Rondani, 1845 Ohmyia Thompson, 1999 Parhelophilus Girschner, 1897 Quichuana Knab, 1913

Subtribe: Sericomyiina[2] Arctophila Schiner, 1860 Conosyrphus Frey, 1915 Pararctophila Herve-Bazin, 1914 Pseudovolucella Shiraki, 1930 Pyritis Hunter, 1897 Sericomyia Meigen, 1803

References

1. Alan E. Stubbs & Steven J. Falk (1983). British Hoverflies: An Illustrated Identification Guide (2nd ed.). London: British Entomological and Natural History Society. pp. 284–300. ISBN 1-899935-03-7.
2. F. Christian Thompson (2003). "Austalis, a new genus of flower flies (Diptera: Syrphidae) with revisionary notes on related genera" (PDF). Zootaxa. 246: 1–19. ISSN 1175-5326.
3. F. Christian Thompson (2000). "A new genus of Australasian Flower Flies (Diptera: Syrphidae)" (PDF). Studia Dipterologica. 7 (2): 373–384. ISSN 0945-3954.