Malthinus seriepunctatus

This was one of two similar Malthinus netted together, both small and presumably both seriepunctatus although only this one was retained for checking. My notes say I checked the genitalia so presumably I could see the likeness to the figure given in Mike Hackston's key, but I did not photograph or retain the genitalia - something I wish I had done when I came across a couple of trickier flaveolus later on.

male Malthinus seriepunctatus, North Elmham Cathedaral Meadows (Norfolk, UK), 9th June 2020

The main way the keys differentiate between seriepunctatus and flaveolus is the presence of punctures along the elytral striae on seriepunctatus. I had got into a bit of a muddle after finding a flaveolus that had a few punctures along its elytral striae. By this time I no longer had the above specimen to compare it to, but when I later caught the following one, everything was neatly cleared up - the punctures are way more obvious on seriepunctatus than they are, if present at all, on flaveolus. There are other differences described in the identification aid at NatureSpot which should enable a pretty confident ID before checking the elytral striae.

female Malthinus seriepunctatus showing elytral striae, High Hurstwood (East Sussex), 22nd July 2022

Again this one was straightforward to identify. As this one was a male I thought it might be worth examining the genitalia just in case I ever get confused by these again. Incidentally, if keying these to genus I find the key features (in Duff) separating Malthinus from Malthodes really hard to see. I don't think any of the Malthodes look anything like the commoner Malthinus though so unless I'm overlooking something there shouldn't be any need to get too caught up in that. If in doubt though, Hackston's key provides some additional pointers that might help.

male Malthinus seriepunctatus showing frons, elytra, last tergite/sternite from side and genital capsule from above and below, Wendling Beck, Environment Project (Norfolk, UK), 4th June 2025