Spotted Meliscaeva Meliscaeva auricollis

I found this a difficult ID! My first mistake was carelessness - I looked at the top half of the face and decided it was black (albeit heavily dusted) and keyed it as Platycheirus. Failing to reach a satisfactory solution that way I re-examined its face and realised the lower half was in fact clearly yellowish, albeit extensively darkened. Even then I didn't arrive at Meliscaeva easily - using Stubbs & Falk I went wrong at couplet 24 - although in hindsight you could describe the spots on tergite 2 as oblique crescent bars, they are much larger than illustrated here. It wasn't much clearer using Ball & Morris. Having gone round the houses (without touching on Meliscaeva) I resorted to using the ObsIdentify app! This was 100% certain it was Meliscaeva auricollis. Wary of ObsIdentfy identifications I checked this carefully, but it does indeed seem to be the answer.

female Spotted Meliscaeva Meliscaeva auricollis showing close-up of scutellum and basal tergites, head (from front) and wing, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 16th September 2022

The next time was a little bit more straightforward. As with the first one, this was attracted to light at night.

female Spotted Meliscaeva Meliscaeva auricollis showing head, tergites and wing, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 31st May 2024

This was in good condition when I potted it but when I came to examine it for identification some while later it was almost completely destroyed. There was a dead pupa in the pot, so presumably it had either been parasitised prior to capture and eaten, or it had laid an egg in the pot which had hatched and its own larva had cannabilised it. Not sure which is most likely, but anyway, it meant my identification pretty much rested on the single image I had taken of it while it was alive.

female Spotted Meliscaeva Meliscaeva auricollis, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 6th July 2024