Elongate insect found in wooded regions, among flowers or tree-trunks. More than 80 species are known.

The adult insects have an unusually long prothorax (region immediately behind the head) which forms a kind of 'neck' and the entire body is elongate, ending in a drawn out slender egg-laying apparatus (ovipositor), hence their name. The female inserts the eggs, with its long ovipositor, into slits in the bark of trees, especially of conifers. The larva forages under the loose bark, preying on soft-bodied insects.

Classification
The snake fly is in family Raphidiidae, in suborder Megaloptera of order Neuroptera, class Insecta, phylum Arthropoda.

There are four species found in Britain.