[Syrphidae] Episyrphus Request

[Jamie Gundry]

Dear Matt

They're usually very common throughout England: just go hunting with a 
butterfly net. The males hover in the sun, guarding their area of air, 
while the females aren't a lot harder to find.

Good luck,

Jamie Gundry, PhD student, Cambridge.

On May 12 2010, Perkins, Matthew wrote:

>Hello,
>
> I am about to beign my first year's PhD experiments examing food chain 
> length and wished to use a plant - aphid - hoverfly - parasitoid system. 
> I have wheat and maize as C3 and C4 plants and am using Sitobion avenae 
> as my aphid. I am interested in using the hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus 
> and wondered if anyone knew where I might be able to procure a few to 
> begin a culture of them? Any advice would be greatly recieved! Thanks,
>
>Kind regards
>
>Matt Perkins
>
>PhD Researcher
>Center for Ecology & Conservation
>University of Exeter, Cornwall
>