Ellipteroides lateralis

Wing length: 6.5-7mm. Shining black body with yellow stripes on the thorax and a yellow stripe along the side of the abdomen. This pale abdominal stripe is in fact the membrane between the dorsal tergites and ventral sternites. It increases in width when the body is inflated but can appear as just a thin pale line. The legs are black. The scutellum has a central black triangle but is often paler at the margins.

There are two other Ellipteroides species but both are brownish rather than shining black.

A good image showing the side of thorax and abdomen and ideally the wing to show the venation.

In lowland areas it is associated with calcareous flushes.

June

Widespread but not common.

Uncommon.