Microdon analis (Macquart, 1842)

Heimburg, Helge, Doczkal, Dieter & Holzinger, Werner E., 2022, A checklist of the hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) of Austria, Zootaxa 5115 (2), pp. 151-209 : 172

Microdon analis (Macquart, 1842) / M. major Andries, 1912

Microdon major was regarded as a synonym of M. analis (= M. eggeri Mik ), until Schmid (2004) demonstrated its status as a valid species. The diagnostic morphological characters refer only to the puparia. The sparse data indicate that these taxa are associated with different ant hosts ( Witek et al. 2011). Apart from the size ( M. major is on average slightly larger than M. analis ) adults are indistinguishable morphologically. The records from Austria examined by us were exclusively based on adults. While it can be assumed that both species are involved, further investigations based on puparia and/or DNA data are needed to corroborate their presence in Austria.