An attractive fly with a rust coloured abdomen and grey thorax. The thighs are quite distinctive, being orangey-red just above the knee joint but pale in the upper parts nearer to the body.

Dichetophora finlandica is similar but it does not have the pale yellow banded area on the upper thigh.

To be certain of identification images showing the postalar setae are needed. There are two in Dichetophora obliterata but only one in D. finlandica.

Often around damp grassland or marshy areas.

Summer and autumn.

This is known as a snail-killing fly. The larvae are predatory on snails.

Widespread and fairly frequent in England and Wales.

Status in Leicestershire and Rutland not known.