Common Striped Twist-tail Erioconopa trivialis

Apparently a very common species.

I keyed this one using Stubbs. The couplet separating genera Erioconopa and Symplecta was problematic: thorax colour was a choice between grey (Erioconopa) and brownish or yellowish (Symplecta) - mine was brownish grey but I suspected I should take it as grey. Mine had a narrow (?) median dark stripe along the thorax (Erioconopa) but "usually with extra stripes" (Symplecta) implies not always, so mine could go either way on this character. The shape of vein A2 probably fitted Erioconopa better but the clincher, or so I thought, was the anal lobe. The key didn't seem to allow much ambiguity here and mine had a clear strong anal lobe pretty much like illustrated for Symplecta and quite unlike the illustration for Erioconopa. Keying it as Symplecta led to Symplecta stictica. That's a species I have seen recently and it didn't look like this. The genitalia confirmed my suspicions - this could not be Symplecta. Returning to Erioconopa quickly led to trivialis and the genitalia were spot on for that.

male Common Striped Twist-tail Erioconopa trivialis showing genitalia and wing, Wendling Beck Environment Project (Norfolk, UK), 27th June 2024