Microdon

Microdon adults look more or less like typical flies. Like some other hoverflies, they are generally robust and very hairy, often closely resembling bees. They are between 8 and 15 mm long. The antennae are rather long, with the last (third) segment nearly as long as, or sometimes significantly longer than, the first segment; the antennae are nearly as long as the fly's face. These flies are covered in black or pale (white or golden) hairs, and are themselves either black or metallic green or blue. The scutellum is with apical calcars and wing vein R4+5 with an appendix. They have simple legs and abdomens. They are slow-moving. Most have the spiracles on a peg-like protuberance extending from the end of their abdomens. ==Behaviour==

Adult Microdon flies do not behave like other syrphid flies; they do not hover around flowers, but instead remain very near the ant colonies which serve as larval hosts. Larvae may be found very deep in ant colonies. Some species actively feed on ant larvae in the colony, Microdon larvae are more or less restricted in their ant host species. Some Microdon species have only ever been found in the colonies of a single ant species, while others are restricted to related ant species or genera. Because these flies have such cryptic life cycles, biological information on most species is limited. ==Species==

Microdon is divided into six subgenera (including Microdon sensu stricto), plus five species groups and some unplaced species in Microdon sensu lato. Subgenus Dimeraspis • Microdon abditus Thompson, 1981 • Microdon fuscipennis (Macquart, 1834) • Microdon globosus (Fabricius, 1805) • Microdon marmoratum Bigot, 1884 • Microdon remotus Knab, 1917 Subgenus Megodon • M. planitarsus Keiser, 1971 • M. stuckenbergi (Keiser, 1971) Subgenus Microdon sensu stricto Nearctic: Neotropical: Oriental: Palaearctic: Subgenus Myiacerapis Myiacerapis is a subgenus of the hoverfly genus Microdon. It contains only one species, Microdon villosus. It is native to Uganda, though an undescribed species is known from South Africa. • Microdon berobak (Reemer, 2015) • Microdon aurulentus (Fabricius, 1805) • Microdon baliopterus Loew, 1872 • Microdon brunetti Sodhi & Singh, 1991 • Microdon carolae (Capelle, 1956) • Microdon coarctatus Loew, 1864 • Microdon cothurnatus Bigot, 1883 • Microdon craigheadii Walton, 1912 • Microdon devius (Linnaeus, 1761) • Microdon fulgens Wiedemann, 1830 • Microdon fuscipennis (Macquart, 1834) • Microdon laetoides Fabricius, 1935 • Microdon laetus Loew, 1864 • Microdon lanceolatus Adams, 1903 • Microdon lateus Violovitsh, 1976 • Microdon latifrons Loew, 1856 • Microdon manitobensis Curran, 1924 • Microdon maritimus Violovitsh, 1976 • Microdon marmoratum Bigot, 1883 • Microdon megalogaster Snow, 1892 • Microdon miki Doczkal & Schmid 1999 • Microdon mutabilis (Linnaeus 1758 ) • Microdon myrmicae Schönrogge et al., 2002 • Microdon mysa Violovitsh, 1971 • Microdon newcomeri Mann, 1924 • Microdon ocellaris Curran, 1924 • Microdon painteri Hull, 1922 • Microdon pallipennis Curran, 1925 • Microdon piperi Knab, 1917 • Microdon ruficrus Williston, 1887 • Microdon rufipes (Macquart, 1842) • Microdon scutifer Knab, 1917 • Microdon sophianus Drensky 1934 • Microdon tristis Loew, 1864 • Microdon ursitarsis Stackelberg, 1926 • Microdon viridis Townsend, 1895 • Microdon xanthopilis Towsend, 1895 --> ==References==