Elytra are usually yellow or reddish-brown, but in the subspecies rufipes they are black or dark brown.

The head, the thorax, the abdomen are bright red or orange.

These soldier beetles can be found on flowers, trees and shrubs from May to July, hunting for small insects.

This species is present in most of Europe, in the eastern Palearctic realm, and in North Africa.

Cantharis livida lives in bushes, edges of forests and meadows.