any dipterous fly of the family Syrphidae, typically having a coloration mimicking that of certain bees and wasps: includes the hover flies
Word origin
C19: from Greek surphos gnat
Examples of 'syrphid' in a sentence
syrphid
For example, hawkmoths and syrphid flies prefer upward- over downward-facing flowers in field experiments.
Takashi T Makino, James D Thomson 2012, 'Cover Image Innate or learned preference for upward-facing flowers?: implicationsfor the costs of pendent flowers from experiments on captive bumble bees', Journal of Pollination Ecologyhttp://www.pollinationecology.org/index.php?journal=jpe&page=article&op=view&path[]=172&path[]=53. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
Microdontine syrphid flies are obligate social parasites of ants.
Gabriela Pérez-Lachaud, Michael W. Gates, Jean-Paul Lachaud 2013, 'New Host Record for Camponotophilus delvarei (Hymenoptera: Eurytomidae), a Parasitoidof Microdontine Larvae (Diptera: Syrphidae), Associated with the Ant Camponotus sp.aff. textor', Psyche: A Journal of Entomologyhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/230601. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
The multifloral treatment supported a greater diversity of syrphid species.
Clara Amy, Grégoire Noël, Séverin Hatt, Roel Uyttenbroeck, Frank Van de Meutter, DavidGenoud, Frédéric Francis 2018, 'Flower Strips in Wheat Intercropping System: Effect on Pollinator Abundance and Diversityin Belgium', Insectshttp://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/9/3/114. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
There was a consistent difference in both specialisation and flower preferences between three syrphid subfamilies.
Jan Klecka, Jiří Hadrava, Paolo Biella, Asma Akter 2018, 'Flower visitation by hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) in a temperate plant-pollinatornetwork', PeerJhttps://peerj.com/articles/6025.pdf. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
A total of 1.283 syrphid specimens were collected, totaling 88 species distributed in 21 genera.
Mírian Nunes Morales, Andreas Köhler 2008, 'Comunidade de Syrphidae (Diptera): diversidade e preferências florais no CinturãoVerde (Santa Cruz do Sul, RS, Brasil) Syrphidae (Diptera) community: diversity andfloral preferences in the Green Belt (Santa Cruz do Sul, RS, Brazil)', Revista Brasileira de Entomologiahttp://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0085-56262008000100008. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
The syrphid larva lashed out at the fly and entangled it in sticky oral secretion.
Onanchi Ureña, Paul Hanson 2010, 'A fly larva (Syrphidae: Ocyptamus) that preys on adult flies', Revista de Biología Tropicalhttp://www.scielo.sa.cr/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-77442010000400009. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)