Bug Wiki
Bug Wiki / All bugs / Flies and mosquitoes
Sticker of Dancing kiss fly
Bug card No. 1273 of 4,939

Dancing kiss fly

Platystoma seminationis
Name means: “the male and female touch mouths when they court, as if kissing”
Eats: Nectar and pollenFlies and mosquitoesForests and woods6 legs

The dancing kiss fly is a small fly with reddish-brown eyes and grey-brown wings covered in light spots. It has a very sweet way of making friends. When a male and a female meet, they do a little dance and then touch mouths, like a kiss.

Lives in
Most of Europe and the Near East, and now North America, on low plants at forest edges and hedges
Length
5.5 to 6.5 mm (0.22 to 0.26 in)
Top speed
about 7.2 km/h (4.5 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
The grown-up fly drinks nectar and eats pollen, especially from spurge plants, and sometimes nibbles on droppings. Its larvae eat rotting plants and mushrooms.
For real!Photo of Dancing kiss fly
Picture by pjt56 --- If you use the picture outside Wikipedia I would appreciate a short e-mail to [email protected] or a message on my discussion page. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Dancing kiss fly about 6.5 mm long (0.26 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)
small enough to sit on your fingernailcould fly across a whole football pitch in 52 secondsmoves 310 times its own body length every second

How big is Dancing kiss fly compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its kiss lasts 5 to 15 seconds.

2

It likes shady places with low plants, along forest edges and hedges.

3

You can find the flies from May to October.

4

It has been carried to North America, far from its home in Europe.

you asked

Most asked questions about Dancing kiss fly

?Why is it called the kiss fly?

Because after a little dance, the male and female touch their big mouthparts together for 5 to 15 seconds.

?How big is the dancing kiss fly?

It is about 5.5 to 6.5 millimetres long.

?Where does the dancing kiss fly live?

In most of Europe and the Near East, in shady places with low plants.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Platystoma seminationis
Named by
Fabricius, 1775
Group
Flies and mosquitoes
Family
Platystomatidae
Classification
Insecta > Diptera > Platystomatidae
Lives on
Europe, Asia, North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Platystoma seminationis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by pjt56 --- If you use the picture outside Wikipedia I would appreciate a short e-mail to [email protected] or a message on my discussion page. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip

More from the same group: Flies and mosquitoes

HouseflyFlies and mosquitoesNew World screwworm flyFlies and mosquitoesLovebugFlies and mosquitoesTsetse flyFlies and mosquitoesCommon fruit flyFlies and mosquitoesAsian tiger mosquitoFlies and mosquitoes

Also at home here: Forests and woods

Azalea sphinxMothsDegeer's thickjawSpidersOrange mapwingButterfliesCape docile scorpionScorpions, ticks and friendsDark-spotted palthis mothMothsPainted pill woodlouseWoodlice
Honey jarfor grown-ups