''Empis livida'' is a species of dance fly, in the fly family

Empididae __NOTOC__ Empididae is a family of flies with over 3,000 described species occurring worldwide in all the biogeographic realms but the majority are found in the Holarctic. They are mainly predatory flies like most of their relatives in the Empid ...

. It is included in the subgenus ''Kritempis'' of the genus ''Empis''. Males range from , females . The male's abdomen is brownish, and his wings appear faintly brown and clouded. The female's abdomen is gray and her wings are clear. ''E. livida'' lives in

hedge A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate a road from adjoin ...

rows, feeding on the nectar of several species of Rosaceae, several species of

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

, and ''

Heracleum sphondylium ''Heracleum sphondylium'', commonly known as hogweed, common hogweed or cow parsnip, is a herbaceous perennial or biennial plant, in the umbelliferous family Apiaceae that includes fennel, cow parsley, ground elder and giant hogweed. It is nat ...

'' nectar; they also feed on other insects. They live all across temperate and Northern Europe, the only species with such a wide distribution. ''E. livida'' larvae are also carnivorous and live in damp soil and leaf litter. Adults fly in between April to July.

References

Empis Asilomorph flies of Europe Flies described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Empidoidea-stub