order
Coleoptera
“Adult Beetles”
Coleoptera
“Larval Beetles”
Diptera
“True Flies”
Ephemeroptera
“Mayflies”
Hemiptera
“True Bugs”
Lepidoptera
“Aquatic Caterpillars, Snout Moths”
Megaloptera
“Alderflies, Dobsonflies, and Fishflies”
Odonata
“Dragonflies and Damselflies”
Plecoptera
“Stoneflies”
Trichoptera
“Caddisflies”
family
Empididae
“Dance Flies”
Family Overview
Empididae
Dance Flies
The tip of the head is visible but is mostly reduced to a pair of slender rods retracted into the thorax; the mouth hooks (mandibles) move up and down parallel to one another; the body is cylindrical; there are usually four hairy lobes and no spiracles at the end of the abdomen and each of the abdominal segments has a pair of fleshy ventral prolegs with tiny apical hooks; if spiracles are present and only a single lobe is at the end of the body, then the abdominal segments lack prolegs but instead have transverse ventral creeping welts.
Characteristics
POLLUTION TOLERANCE
Mid-Atlantic: 6 and higher
Upper Midwest: 6 and higher
Midwest: 3.5 and higher
Southeast: 8.1 and higher
FEEDING HABITS
Piercer / Predator
MOVEMENT
Burrower
Sprawler
Sprawler
Diagnostic Characters
order
Legs Absent
family
1-4 Rounded Lobes on End of Abdomen
All Abdominal Segments with Hook-bearing Prolegs
Head Capsule Not Sclerotized and Exposed
Mouth Hooks Moving Vertically
Spiracles Absent
+ Expanded Character List
Order:
Wings and wing pads absent. Eye spots sometimes visible, but compound eyes absent. Segmented legs absent, but sometimes fleshy prolegs present. Sometimes with distinct head, often without head or with head drawn deeply into thorax. Body flattened, cylindrical, or maggot-like.
Family:
The tip of the head is visible but is mostly reduced to a pair of slender rods retracted into the thorax; the mouth hooks (mandibles) move up and down parallel to one another; the body is cylindrical; there are usually four hairy lobes and no spiracles at the end of the abdomen and each of the abdominal segments has a pair of fleshy ventral prolegs with tiny apical hooks; if spiracles are present and only a single lobe is at the end of the body, then the abdominal segments lack prolegs but instead have transverse ventral creeping welts.
Lateral
Ventral