The dance flies [Empididae] are a family of Diptera [flies with only a single pair of wings] with more than 2’500 species worldwide and 260 in Central Europe alone.
Dance flies get their common group name from their habit of gathering in numbers in flight and dancing in a cloud like gnats, usually over damp areas of ground.
Empis livida is an abundant species of dance fly with a body length 7.5 to 10 mm. The male’s abdomen is brownish, and its wings appear faintly brown and clouded. The female’s abdomen is gray and its wings are clear. Thus, the specimen in my photograph is a male.
This species flies from April to July. It can be found on umbellifers, supping nectar while waiting to satisfy its carnivorous tastes by spearing, with their long thin proboscis, any small fly that comes close.
The larvae are also carnivorous and live in damp soil and leaf litter.