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

Fly

True flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...

 family Empididae

Empididae

Empididae is a family of flies with over 3,000 described species occurring worldwide, but the majority are found in the Holarctic. They are mainly predatory flies like most of their relatives in the Empidoidea, and exhibit a wide range of forms but are generally small to medium sized, non-metallic...

. Males range from 7.5–9.3 mm (0.295275590551181–0.366141732283465 ), females 7.5–10.2 mm (0.295275590551181–0.401574803149606 ). 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 hedgerows

Hedge

Hedge may refer to:* Hedge or hedgerow, line of closely spaced shrubs planted to act as a barrier* Hedge , investment made to limit loss* Hedge , intentionally non-committal or ambiguous sentence fragments-See also:...

, feeding on the nectar of several species of Rosaceae

Rosaceae

Rosaceae are a medium-sized family of flowering plants, including about 2830 species in 95 genera. The name is derived from the type genus Rosa. Among the largest genera are Alchemilla , Sorbus , Crataegus , Cotoneaster , and Rubus...

, several species of Asteraceae

Asteraceae

The Asteraceae or Compositae , is an exceedingly large and widespread family of vascular plants. The group has more than 22,750 currently accepted species, spread across 1620 genera and 12 subfamilies...

, and Heracleum sphondylium 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.