Eristalini


Eristalini is a tribe of hoverflies. Several species are well-known honeybee mimics, such as the drone fly Eristalis tenax, while other genera such as Helophilus and Parhelophilus exhibit wasp-like patterns of yellow and black stripes, both strategies to avoid predation by visual predators such as birds.
They breed in decaying organic materials such as run-offs from dung heaps or in ponds and ditches. Some others, such as Myathropa and Mallota, breed in wet rotting tree stumps and rot holes.
A characteristic feature of this tribe is the "rat-tailed maggot" with a rear positioned telescopic breathing tube, allowing the larvae to breathe while living submerged in water or mud. This feature is also shared with another hoverfly tribe the Sericomyiini though those flies do not share the characteristic eristaline dip in wing vein R4+5.

List of genera

Thompson considers the tribe Sericomyiini a subtribe of the Eristalini while others separate it.
Subtribe: Eristalina
Subtribe: Helophilina