Ischiodon scutellaris (Fabricius)

Diptera: Syrphidae: Syrphinae: Syrphini

Face in lateral view not receding below to oral cavity. Eyes glabrous, medially separated in female, contiguous in male. Antenna with segment 3 only twice as long as broad. Abdomen flat or slightly convex dorsally; slightly, but distinctly margined on tergites 2 to 5. Lateral mesonotal margin bright yellow, distinctly demarcated from dark dorsum. Lower lobe of squama bare above. Anterior flat portion of mesopleuron bare, with only microscopic hairs and not with long hairs. Metasternum bare. Sternopleural hair patches separated posteriorly. Abdominal tip in ventral view symmetrical in female, asymmetrical in male.

   Head in female (left) and male (right)
   Abdominal apex, ventral view: Female (left) and male (right)

Larva bright green to greenish yellow with a prominent white mid-dorsal longitudinal stripe running across the body.

   Mating pair
   Adult male
     Adult female
   Larva
   Larva feeding on Aphis craccivora Koch
 Diplazon sp. nr. orientalis (Ichneumonidae), a larval parasitoid of I. scutellaris
 Callaspidia notata (Boyer de Fonscolombe) (Figitidae), a larval-pupal parasitoid

Widely distributed almost throughout India. Sri Lanka. Pakistan. Nepal. Afghanistan. Myanmar.

Feeds on a variety of aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) such as Acyrthosiphon pisum, A. spiraecola, A. craccivora, A. fabae, A. gossypii, A. nerii, A. punicae, A. rhoicola, A. umbrella, Brevicoryne brassicae, Greenidea artocarpi, Hysteroneura setariae, Lipaphis erysimi, Melanaphis sacchari, Myzus persicae, Pentalonia nigronervosa, Rhopalosiphum maidis, Sarucallis kahawaluokalani, Sitobion avenae, S. rosaeiformis, Therioaphis trifolii, Toxoptera aurantii, T. citricida, T. odinae, Uroleucon compositae and U. sonchi (Ghorpade, 1981). It has been recorded on Trialeurodes ricini (Misra) (Aleurodidae).

Associated with aphids on redgram, cabbage, chrysanthemum, cotton, crucifers, mustard, radish, redgram, rose, sorghum, watermelon, wheat and various other host plants (Ghorpade, 1981). Singh & Mishra (1988) studied its development on R. maidis. Joshi et al. (1999) studied its predatory potential. Joshi et al. (1998) standardized a mass culturing technique for I. scutellaris. In India, attempts have been made at using augmentative releases of I. scutellaris for the control of aphids on mustard, but the results were not promising.