The original taxon obscura (and its replacement name nigricornis) has been described from Sweden. Apart from Sweden, the distribution of this species is unclear. The synonymous taxon obscuraticeps has been described from Finland, indicating that the species may be more widespread in Scandinavia. The synonymous taxon nigrolimbatus has been described with "bei Nimptsch, Habelschwerdt und Rauden (Schlesien)" as the type localities. The first two places are Niemcza and Bystrzyca Klodzka (both part of Poland today). The third location must be Rauden, a part of the German municipality Boxberg-Oberlausitz (Lower Silesia). This suggests that the species is present in Central Europe as well, including Poland and Germany.
More recently, the species has also been reported from Greenland, USA and Canada where it had previously been misidentified as Dasysyrphus pauxillus (see analysis in Locke and Skevington 2013). Similarly, specimens misidentifed as "Dasysyrphus pauxillus" have been recorded in several European countries including Germany: published records of "Dasysyrphus pauxillus" include e.g. Macedonia (Krpac et al. 2009), Germany (Von der Dunk 2005), the Netherlands (Reemer 2002).