Dance flies

Japanese: オドリバエ - おどりばえ（英語表記）dance flies

A general term for insects belonging to the family Empididae in the order Diptera (illustration). Small to large insects belonging to the suborder Brachyceratopsid, like the families Tabanidae and Robberflies. They have a unique mating behavior, in which many individuals gather in a certain space during mating and fly in a swarm to search for a mate. This behavior is called an aerial dance, and each species has its own unique form. They are distributed widely around the world, and are particularly common in temperate and boreal forests. It is estimated that there are more than 1,000 species in 10 genera living in Japan, but most of them have not been studied.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

双翅目オドリバエ科Empididaeに属する昆虫の総称（イラスト）。アブ科，ムシヒキアブ科などと同じく，短角亜目に属する小型ないし大型の昆虫。独特の配偶行動を行い，交尾の際に多数の個体が一定の空間に集まって群飛し，相手をさがす。この行動は，aerial dance(空中舞踊)と呼ばれ，それぞれの種ごとに特有の形式をもっている。世界中に広く分布し，とくに温帯，寒帯の森林に多く見られる。日本には10属1000種以上生息していると推定されているが，そのほとんどは未研究である。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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