The red malachite beetle (Anthocomus rufus) is a vibrant, red-and-black European insect measuring just 4 to 5 mm in length. A member of the soft-winged flower beetle family (Melyridae), it favors wetland habitats like reed beds and possesses unique scent glands for communication. It features a black head and thorax bordered in red, paired with striking bright red wing cases (elytra). These elytra are slightly shorter than its body, leaving the tip of the abdomen exposed. Like other soft-winged flower beetles, it has eversible sacs along its flanks that it inflates to release mating scents. Most active from August to October around marshes, swamps, and reed margins, adults feed on pollen, flower heads, and tiny insects, while their predatory larvae hunt small wood-boring beetle larvae. I spotted a pair of these slender beetles crawling through the tall grass surrounding a post-glacial lake in the Västra Järvafältet Nature Reserve, Sweden.