The hornhand sedgesitter (Pyrophaena granditarsis) is a striking small hoverfly inhabiting wet meadows, damp ditches, and marshes across Europe and North America. Beneath their dark, resting wings, both males and females sport a brilliant reddish-orange abdomen that flashes brightly when they take flight. Males feature uniquely modified front and middle legs, complete with widened, flattened pads. Females lay their eggs near aphid colonies in damp leaf litter. Once hatched, their hungry, slug-like larvae crawl through dense grasses to snatch aphids, lifting them up to drink their fluids before resting underground for the winter. I crossed paths with this handsome little fly during a forest walk close to my home in Järfälla, Sweden.