Allograpta ventralis

Mengual, Ximo, Ruiz, Carlos, Rojo, Santos, Ståhls, Gunilla & Thompson, Christian, 2009, A conspectus of the flower fly genus Allograpta (Diptera: Syrphidae) with description of a new subgenus and species, Zootaxa 2214, pp. 1-28 : 15-16

Allograpta ventralis species group

Diagnosis. Face straight, with large low tubercle; oral opening about 2 times as long as wide, with oral apex at level of antennal base; antennal pits confluent; plumula absent; subscutellar pile fringe absent; wing broadly bare basomedially, without apical dark macula ; alula narrow, about 1/2 as broad as cell BM; metasternum bare or with 2–3 very short pile; abdomen elongate or slightly petiolate.

Included species. AUSTRALIAN: ** dorsalis Miller 1924: 284 (Ocyptamus) New Zealand; ** ventralis Miller 1921: 296 (Sphaerophoria) New Zealand.

The biology of ventralis was described by Bowie (2001) and the species are typical Allograpta predators which feed on mealybugs ( Balanococcus cordylinidis ( Pseudococcidae )). See also Thompson (2008: 4, fig. 4) for colour habitus.