Drymus ryei

Apparently quite a scarce species - in the last list of Norfolk bug records that I've got (which isn't very up to date so the picture may be different now) there was only one other record.

This was on a fencepost beside the disused railway and after taking one photo I attempted to pot it. Sadly it had other ideas and dropped down into the long vegetation just as the pot went over it. It is therefore identified from the following photo alone: I think there's enough to identify it as ryei but am willing to be corrected if not. The wings are very dark, lacking the darker marking at the apex of the clavus that's shown by the commoner sylvaticus. The wings appear to fall just shy of the tip of the abdomen, if only by a whisker. The wings are also wider towards the rear than on sylvaticus and the pronotum appears to be broader at the front than it does on at least some photos of sylvaticus. I don't think this is diagostic, but the photos I've seen of ryei mostly have an obvious orangey spot at the base of the wing membrane (as this does) whereas only a minority of photos of Drymus sylvaticus show this, at least to this extent - so perhaps indicative of ryei then?

Although sylvaticus is supposed to be the commonest Drymus, it's the other common one that I've seen a few times, brunneus. That can be quite similar but I think you'd be able to make out the browner rear part of the pronotum if it were brunneus.

Drymus ryei, North Elmham railway (Norfolk, UK), 24th May 2024