The head has 3 ocelli in both sexes and moderately long antennae. The wings often show patterns of dark markings. Adults can be found near larval habitats and in other moist places, near the edges of woods and forested areas, and often on slime fluxes of wounded trees.
Males form mating swarms and females oviposit on almost any moist surface.
The amphipneustic larvae are slender, fusiform, and vary from ca. 10 to 20 mm in length. They are saprophagous and occur in moist, decaying, or fermenting organic matter. Pupation occurs in the larval habitats without the formation of a cocoon. Pharate adults actively wriggle to the surface for emergence.