Habitat
Adults: terrestrial
Immatures: terrestrial

Feeding Habits
Adults: predaceous
Immatures: predaceous

North American
Species: 725

Diptera Empididae
Dance flies

Special Characteristics: Empididae are small to medium sized flies, usually elongated and mostly dark colored. They have a rounded head and a distinct neck, a large and humpbacked thorax and long tapered abdomen. The legs are slender and sometimes the front legs are raptorial, for grasping other insects. The proboscis is often long and pointed.

Comments: The larvae and the adults are predaceous on smaller insects. The adults also sometimes feed on nectar and are often found in damp places where the vegetation is dense. The larvae are common in the soil or decaying vegetation and some are found in water. Their common name comes from the fact that the adults often form mating swarms and fly up and down into it. The males will sometimes capture an insects that they wrap in silk as a mating gift for a female (but "lazy" males of some species only give an empty ball of silk!)

Species:
Rhamphomyia longicauda Loew

Common Name:

Feeding Habits: Larvae and adults are predators of small insects.

Distribution:
Eastern Canada

Comments:
This species has a complex courtship. The females form swarms and inflate their abdomens and spread their broadly scaled legs to make themselves look bigger. The males capture flies and other insects and bring them to the females as gifts.