[2] Subspecies include: [2][3] This species is present in most of Europe (Austria, Belgium, United Kingdom, Russia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Netherlands and Ukraine) and in the Near East.

[5][6] These flies inhabit forest fringes or hedges, primarily on low herbaceous vegetation in shady places.

In these flies the interocular space and the epistomes are black and the eyes are reddish-brown.

Larvae develop in and feed on decaying vegetable material, [8] on mushrooms and on roots of mushroom-infected plants and are probably saprophages.

[5] These flies have a highly developed ritual of courtship, during which after a dance of rapprochement the male and female "kiss" each other, touching together with their large proboscis for 5-15 seconds.