Platycheirus

Platycheirus is a large genus of hoverflies. They are also called sedgesitters. The genus Platycheirus was established in 1828 by Lepeletier and Serville, with the type specimen of Syrphus scutatus Meigen. This genus is primarily Holarctic in distribution, encompassing 70 species within the Nearctic region. Notably, at least 23 of these Nearctic species are also found in the Palearctic realm, with their approximately 110 species.The distribution of Platycheirus is markedly boreal, with half of the 70 Nearctic species in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, or Alaska. The genus is widespread from Mexico, Central and South America, Europe, Asia, Southeast Asia, Platycheirus are not found in Australia, Indonesia and New Guinea. The genus has a variety of food choices for larvae, ranging from generalized aphid predators to species that specialize in feeding on one or two specific aphid species. Most are feeding within the ground layer of leaf litter.

==Characteristics== For terminology and a key to European Syrphidae see Speight.