This species can be distinguished by the contrasting drawings and by the relatively narrow body shape.

Thorax is glossy black with two gray longitudinal stripes.

Body is relatively slim, the abdomen is long, oval and black with two light yellow bands (hence the Latin species name bicinctum).

The adult flies can be found from May to September but they are commonest from mid-June to August.

[6] Fennoscandia south to Iberia and the Mediterranean basin, through Central Europe and Southern Europe (Italy, the Balkans, Bulgaria) East into Turkey and European Russia then to central Siberia.