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
                              0 = least tolerant, 10 = most tolerant
                        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
               



 
                                    