Hesse (1969) described this species as follows: Body rather smallish; thorax short, quadrate; abdomen elongate, cylindrical, with a tendency to be narrowed at middle; colour mainly black; clypeus dark reddish brownish; humeral tubercles, area above these, two submedial, discal, posteriorly-convergent streaks, sides of thorax above (more broadly) in front of wing-bases, basal part in front of scutellum, sides of tergites 1-5 (more or less intramarginally), and to a more obscure extent sternites 1-3 yellowish brownish; pteropleuron and to an obscure extent metapleural part below halteres very dark reddish or blackish reddish; bullae shining black, separated above by a space narrower than their vertical length; hind margins of tergites 2-4 and sides of 5 (and obscurely its narrower discal part) whitish, more broadened on sides where they are partially interrupted by a dark spot and discally medially also interrupted along 2-4 by a central dark line; hind margins of sternites without any whitish; legs very dark blackish brownish to black, only the knees of front and middle femora, basal parts of hind femora, and bases of hind tibiae pale yellowish. Integument of greater part of head, body and legs shining, only sides of fronto-facial parts and occiput dulled by greyish whitish tomentum; integument of thorax above vermicellately rugulose, more transversely so along slightly depressed, submedial, reddish brownish streaks, finer along sides, and obsolescent basally, the postalar calli however smooth; scutellum smooth, shining; metanotum more transversly rugulose on sides towards sides of scutellum, the extreme sides more striate; pleurae mainly shining, polished, the pteropleuron however longitudinally striate; propleural parts partly dull and metasternal part dull; abdomen with tergite-1 transversely striate, the rest of surface above punctured, sparsely on tergites 2-5, more densely and more coarsely on 6 and 7, especially on latter, but the setiferous puncturation from 2 to apex slightly coarser on apical parts of all the segments; narrow hind margins of 5-7 dulled by greyish tomentum; sides of tergites 2-7 with some transverse striae, denser across hinder part of 6 and across entire 7; venter also with sparse setiferous puncturation, but sternites 5-8 more or less transversely striate, more coarsely so across 7 and 8. Vestiture not very dense, mainly snow whitish; hairs on disc of thorax shortish, decumbent, more or less in 4 streaks (apart from the denser and longer ones along notopleural part); metanotum entirely bare ; hairs on abdomen longish and dense on sides of tergite 1 and basally of 2, sparser, decumbent on rest of tergites, those discally darker, more brownish; those on venter sparse, longer towards base; hairs on hypopygium not very long or dense; those on hind coxae, and especially hind femora, rather dense and long, especially along upper inner and lower inner surfaces of latter; those on apical half of hind tibiae becoming darker; spines and spicules on legs and the claws dark. Head across eyes much broader than thorax; clypeus rather smallish, not much longer than combined length of antennal segments 1 and 2; antennae comparatively long, rather stoutish, much longer than thorax; segment-1 not much thickened, about 2.3 times length of 2; segment-3 longer than interocular space on vertex, much longer than club, with more than its apical third thickened; club elongate, gradually and equally broadening to broadest part near apex, its terminal prominence very prominent, nipple-like, its base not distinctly constricted; proboscis longish, about 4.0–5.2 mm long. Wings rather shortish, mainly clear, only basal half of marginal cell, lower part of costal cell up to end of subcostal vein, cloudiness along posterior vein of first submarginal cell, and apical half of first basal cell brownish; veins brownish; discoidal cell markedly narrow, with a long stalk apically; knobs of halteres blackish. Legs shortish; hind femora distinctly thickened, subspindle-shaped, their bases slender and short, armed below with a double row of backwardly-projecting, stoutish spines on tubercles, the inner row of about 7 beginning in advance of the outer row of about 6-8 just before the middle; hind tibiae with the carinate line below in basal half scarcely evident, armed in apical part with some minute spicules. Hypopygium rather prominent, similar to that of C. nigerrima; anal lobes relatively long, also depressed and shining above; lobes of tergite-9 well developed, tongue-shaped; sternite-9 somewhat flattened below, sulcate centrally below and broadly gaping V-shaped apically below, its apex on each side, as in C. nigerrima, with an inwardly-directed dentate process, the lower (anterior) part of which extends flange-like and is semi-membranous; process of the sternite on each side strongly developed, curving inwards and apically bidentate and hollowed below; phallic tubes relatively long, curved forwards, then hindwards and crossing each other under the anal lobes. Length of body: about 13–25 mm; Length of wing: about 8.5 mm.

From C. nigerrima, this species differs in not having any black hairs on head and body, much clearer wings, much narrower discoidal cell, less coarsely sculptured thorax and metanotum, longer proboscis, more punctured abdomen, slightly less incrassate hind femora and longer anal lobes.

This information was extracted from Hesse (1969): A single male specimen from near Grahamstown, collected by Dr. Michener, obviously belongs to the section of Cephalocera in which the thorax is coarsely sculptured and the processes of sternite-9 in the male are bilobed. It shows some relationship to C. nigerrima and apparently represents the far eastern limit in the geographical distribution of the genus Cephalocera in South Africa.

South Africa.

The specimen of this species was collected from the Eastern Cape, 19 km northwest of Grahamstown (C. D. Michener, 21 Nov. 1966) (Hesse 1969).

The information below was extracted from Cannings and Scudder (2005): Dipterans are primarily aerial insects and the mesothorax, which bears the only pair of wings, dominates the thorax - the prothorax and metathorax are greatly reduced. The legs are normally rather simple and are used primarily for perching; in some groups, they are modified for prey capture or for signaling during courtship. The tarsi are nearly always 5-segmented. The functional wings are membranous and their pattern of veins is critical in fly classification and identification. During the evolution of flies, there has been a trend towards a reduction in veins, especially in the rear half of the wing – changes that evidently relate to improvements in two-winged flight. The hindwings, present in most other insects, are reduced in Diptera to small, club-like organs, called halteres, used for stabilising flight.

Herbivore - Nectarivore (nectar-eating)

The flies in this family are not known to hunt, catch or prey upon other insects as asilids do. They are however known to imbibe on the flower nectar especially Afroleptomydas and Cephalocera. These species sometimes visit flowers, especially those of species of Mesembryanthemum (Hesse 1969).

Like the others, flies in the Mydidae family begin life as an egg, which hatches into a grub-like larva. Most of the fly life is spent in the larval stage, mainly eating and growing as well as molting several times. Some flies may spend at least a year as a larva. The next stage is a pupa, during which the insect transforms into its final stage, emerging from the pupa as a winged adult, able to mate and reproduce. In many species, males stake out positions at favourable egg-laying sites and wait for females to arrive (Hesse 1969).