DESCRIPTION: Wing length 5.5 - 8.25mm.  A smart beast with large chestnut eyes and dark black or brown antennae.  The thorax is dark and shiny with some dusting and the abdomen has bold orange markings on tergites 2 and 3 that cover the entire lateral margins in the male but which are reduced in the females.  The legs are black and orange with the hind femur arched, swollen and with a large triangular projection near the apex of the underside.  This distinctive projection has a series of small black spines along its hind edge. BEHAVIOUR: The larvae are believe to live in marshy debris or the stems and leaf sheaths of emergent plants. DISTRIBUTION: Widespread but local in southern Britain and southern Scotland with more northerly records coming from coastal areas. HABITAT: A hoverfly of wet marshy areas particularly fenland and coastal grazing marshes and inland gravel pits that are well-vegetated.  . PERIOD: May to October with a peak through June and July.