Hemerobius pini

A widespread species across the UK but there is only one record so far for Norfolk, from the Norwich area in 1888. There is no obvious reason why the species should not continue to occur in Norfolk so further records are possible. My only record was outside of the county, netted during the day on Mull.

The presence of a recurrent humeral vein and 3-4 branches to the radial vein helps separate Hemerobius from Psectra and Micromus, and the position of veing RMCV (inside the fork of vein M) helps to rule out Wesmaelius. However, note that vein RMCV is often unpigmented in Hemerobius so you may need to look really carefully for this and it might not show up in photos.

The identification of any suspected individual in Norfolk should be confirmed using the key in Plant (1997), preferably with high quality photos and/or a specimen retained. However, the pattern of dark markings on the wings shown by the individual I caught seems typical of the species (based on photos elsewhere on the internet) and is not typical of any of the common species in Norfolk - so that may be a good starting point. The female abdomen form is not described or illustrated in Plant (1997) but the individual below showed an abdomen tip somewhat similar to that of Hemerobius humulinus.

female Hemerobius pini (showing partly-cleared abdomen tip), south of Salen, Mull (Argyll & Bute, UK), 12th June 2019