Most of the species have a yellow or brown ground-colour, an antero-posteriorly compressed head, stout mouthparts, a projecting clypeus below the lower facial margin, and have a silent flight.

With respect to Bengalia depressa this habit is described as follows: “[The flies were] settling on blades of grass, stones, and other raised objects near the ant column.

The two insects then had a tug of war with very little advantage to either side, until the ant apparently became annoyed and letting go of the pupa rushed at the fly, which escaped with the booty which it proceeded to suck.

This time the ant left the pupa which the fly immediately seized and proceeded to suck.”[6] [1][7][2][8][9] The genus was reclassified into 11 new genera in 4 subfamilies by Andy Lehrer in 2005,[10] within a newly designated family, Bengaliidae.

At present, major sources of Dipteran taxonomy do not recognize Lehrer's 10 new genera as valid, nor the 18 new species treated as invalid by Rognes (e.g.[12]).