This uncommon species is present in most of Europe, in Western Siberia, in the Near East and in North Africa.

[4] It prefers grassland, open fields close to deciduous forest.

[5][6] Flight period last from mid May through September, with a peak at the end of June.

[6] The adults feed on different flowers, for example, Ballota nigra, Potentilla erecta and Heracleum sphondylium.

Larvae have been found underground in nests of the black garden ant (Lasius niger) and yellow meadow ant (Lasius flavus), probably to feed on ant-attended root aphids Forda formicaria and Trama species that they collect.