A small fly, about 7 mm long. Light brown in color with speckled brown and white wings, lightly striped thorax, brown and white banded legs, brown eyes. At rest, the wings are overlapped over the abdomen.
This fly was photographed on grass at the teaching pond in the Fontenelle Forest wetlands. They are associated with ponds, streams, marshes and damp woods. They are distributed widely, being found coast to coast in the U.S. and Canada.
There are more than 30 species in the genus Dictya, all very similar in appearance. Species separation is only possible with the dissection of genitalia. Larvae feed on snails, slugs and snail eggs.
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