Ocyptamus (Ocyptamus) fuscipennis (Say)
Ocyptamus (Ocyptamus) fuscipennis (Say, 1823).
Say, T. (1823) Descriptions of dipterous insects of the United States. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 3, 9-32 [1823.04.??], 33-64 [1823.05.??], 73-104.
Ocyptamus is a large Syrphini genus endemic to the New World with over 300 Neotropical species and 22 Nearctic species (Rotheray et al. 2000). Species of this genus show much greater variation in colour pattern and body shape than those of any other genus of the tribe Syrphini, and they also show more variation in the male genitalia than those of most syrphid genera (Vockeroth 1969).
Ocyptamus fuscipennis has abdomen petiolate; wing brown on at least anterior one-third, with dell DM brown on at least apical third; cells C, R, and BM entirely trichose; face entirely yellow; tibiae entirely dark brown; crossvein r-m beyond level of Sc apex; and subscutellar fringe at most six pile; pile commonly entirely absent.
Adapted from Vockeroth (1992).
Head: Frontal triangle blackish brown, commonly reddish above antenna. Face narrow, narrowed below, yellow to reddish, slightly translucent laterally.
Thorax: Scutum weakly pollinose; scutellum yellow brown to dark brown; pleura weakly pollinose with posterior part of anepisternum obscurely yellowish. Scutum anteriorly with irregular double row of long stiff white pile about twice as long as other scutal pile (collar of pile sensu Hull 1949); subscutellar fringe absent or very sparse, with at most six long pile; anterior anepisternum pilose posterodorsally; metaepisternum with some pile. Wing usually mostly brown with only alula, anal area, and posteroapical part of wing hyaline; some specimens also with most of cells DM, CuAl, and CuP hyaline or nearly so but always with apex of cell DM broadly brown; membrane with only alula and extreme base of anal lobe bare; crossvein r-m slightly beyond apex of Sc. Legs mostly dark yellow to orange or orange-brown; femoral apices and much of tibiae and tarsi brownish.
Abdomen very slender, petiolate, about 12 times as long as least width of tergum 2. Terga dark brown; most of terga 2 and 3 narrowly and obscurely reddish laterally.
Frons broadly reddish yellow anterolaterally; strongly narrowed posteriorly; lateral ocellus about its own diameter from eye margin. Katepisternum usually obscurely yellowish dorsally. Terga commonly partly obscurely reddish; reddish areas in some specimens forming distinct broad fascia at base of terga 3-5; tergum and sternum 6 and tergum and sternum 7 not fused laterally, depressed.
Body length: 6.8-11.3 mm (Vockeroth 1992).
Ecology and Distribution
Ocyptamus fuscipennis is an Old World taxon that ranges from Canada and U.S.A. south to Mexico (Neotropical part) and Cuba (Vockeroth 1992).
Folsom (1909) reported O. fuscipennis as a possible predator of the aphid Macrosiphum pisi, but the evidence was very weak. Miller (1929) reported it (as O. lugens) as a predator of the aphid Aphis spiraecola in Florida.
The period from oviposition to adult emergence is 14-19 days (Vockeroth 1992).
Evolution and Systematics
Nomenclature and Synonymy
Baccha fuscipennis Say, 1823: 100.
Ocyptamus fenestratus Bigot, 1885: 251.
Baccha fenestratus Hull, 1949: 280.
Baccha fiscipennis Say, 1823: 100.
Ocyptamus fascipennis Macquart, 1834: 554.
Syrphus amissas Walker, 1849: 589.
Syrphus peas Walker, 1849: 590.
Syrphus radaca Walker, 1849: 590.
Baccha lugens Loew, 1863: 14.
Ocyptamus longiventris Loew, 1866: 38.
Mengual et al. (2008a,b) studied the tribal classification of Syrphinae and the phylogeny of the genus Allograpta. In both cases, the species of Ocyptamus included appeared in a clade including the genus Toxomerus and the subgenus Salpingogaster (Eosalpingogaster). Authors questioned the monophyly of the genus Ocyptamus.