Eristalis abusiva is a European species of hoverfly. It is similar to Eristalis arbustorum.
Description The wings are 8-9.5 mm in length. The scutellum is shiny. The face is covered with pale dust (there is a narrow black stripe here in worn specimens) on the lower part. The apical half of the arista is bare and the basal half is very short-haired. The eyes have pale yellow hairs. The female eyes are separated. The tibia are pale black on the basal quarter or less. Tibia 2 is very pale.Van der Goot, V.S. (1981) De zweefvliegen van Noordwest - Europa en Europees Rusland, in het bijzonder van de Benelux. KNNV, Uitgave no.32: 275pp. Amsterdam.Bei-Bienko, G.Y. & Steyskal, G.C. (1988) Keys to the Insects of the European Part of the USSR, Volume V: Diptera and Siphonaptera, Part I. Amerind Publishing Co., New Delhi. .Coe, R.L. (1953) Diptera: Syrphidae. Handbks.ident.Br.insects, 10(1): 1-98. R.ent.Soc.London. pdf The male genitalia are figured by Hippa et al. (2001).Hippa, H., Nielsen, T.R. & van Steenis, J. (2001) The west Palaearctic species of the genus Eristalis Latreille (Diptera, Surphidae). Norw.J.Entomol., 48: 289-327. The larva is figured by Hartley (1961).Hartley, J.C. (1961) A taxonomic account of the larvae of some British Syrphidae. Proc.zool.Soc.Lond.,136: 505-573.
Distribution Eristalis abusiva occurs from Palaearctic Fennoscandia and the Faroes (Jensen, 2001) south to North France, from Ireland eastwards through Europe and Russia to the Pacific coast.Fauna EuropaeaPeck, L.V. (1988) Syrphidae. In: Soos, A. & Papp, L. (eds.) Catalogue of Palaearctic Diptera, 8: 11-230. Akad.Kiado, Budapest.
Biology The habitat is wetland, coastal fen and salt-marsh, marsh and fen, raised bog and cutover bog. Flowers visited include yellow composites, white umbellifers, Calluna vulgaris, Caltha, Cirsium, Erica, Potentilla erecta, Ranunculus, Rubus fruticosus, Salix repens, Stellaria, Spartina.de Buck, N. (1990) Bloembezoek en bestuivingsecologie van Zweefvliegen (Diptera, Syrphidae) in het bijzonder voor België. Doc.Trav. IRSNB, no.60, 1-167.
The flight period is beginning May to mid October. The larva is aquatic.
References