Bug FAQDark-winged Chrysogaster
Chrysogaster solstitialis · Order: Diptera · Family: Syrphidae
The dark-winged Chrysogaster has wings 6 to 7.25 mm long and reddish antennae, with blackish-tinged wings and a female thorax that shows purplish reflections. It lives around wetlands, deciduous forests, woodland streams and ponds, where its larvae develop in muddy pond bottoms full of twig and branch debris. Adults fly from June to September (as early as May in southern Europe) and visit a variety of flowers such as white umbellifers, Cornus, Filipendula, Galium, Sambucus and Senecio jacobaea.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Antennae are reddish. Wings have a blackish tint. Females show purplish reflections on the thorax.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Wing length ranges from 6 to 7.25 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
Found in wetlands, deciduous forests, woodland streams and ponds, including Salix carr. Larvae live in pond mud that contains fallen twigs and branches.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adults visit flowers such as white umbellifers, Cornus, Filipendula, Galium, Sambucus and Senecio jacobaea. Larvae develop in pond mud with twig and branch debris.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The larva has been illustrated by Rotheray (1993). Adults are on the wing from June to September, and from May in southern Europe.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Flight period is June to September, starting in May in southern Europe.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Native to the Palaearctic, from Fennoscandia south to Iberia, the Mediterranean basin and North Africa. Its range also includes Ireland eastwards through Europe into European Russia, Ukraine and the Caucasus mountains.
Source: Wikipedia
More photos
Questions people ask
When are dark-winged Chrysogaster active?
Adults fly from June through September, and as early as May in southern Europe.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Syrphidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysogaster_solstitialis
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.