Bug FAQEmpis tessellata
Empis tessellata · Order: Diptera · Family: Empididae
Empis tessellata is a large dance fly about 9 to 11 mm long with a wingspan of roughly the same size. It has a black, bristly body, red-yellow legs with black thighs, gray-black thorax with three stripes, bronze-gray arched abdomen, and brown-tinged wings with dark veins and a rusty-yellow edge. Adults appear from April to August, hunt other small insects, and also sip flower nectar; larvae live in soil and leaf litter.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The fly’s body is heavily bristled and black, its legs are red-yellow with black thighs, the thorax is gray-black with three longitudinal stripes, the abdomen is bronze-gray and arched, and the wings are brown-tinged with dark veins and a rusty-yellow costal margin.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
It measures about 9 to 11 mm in length and has a wingspan of 9.3 to 11 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
You’ll find it on plants in moist meadows, forest edges, clearings and lightly wooded areas.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adult males hunt other dipterans and small insects, while both sexes also feed on flower nectar; larvae are predatory as well.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The creamy-yellow larvae live beneath the ground and among leaf litter.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults are active from April through August.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
The species occurs across most of Europe from the Mediterranean up to Scandinavia and extends eastward to the Middle East, Central Asia and Japan.
Source: Wikipedia
More photos
Questions people ask
What does Empis tessellata eat?
Males hunt other small insects and both sexes also sip nectar; the larvae are predatory too.
Source: Wikipedia
Where does Empis tessellata live?
It inhabits moist meadows, forest edges, clearings and lightly wooded spots across much of Europe into Asia.
Source: Wikipedia
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empis_tessellata
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.