Leptopterna ferrugata

This was one of two similar bugs that came to light. I feel that I have been long overdue in identifying ferrugata so was pleased to finally have one, but although the overall colouration and pattern strongly suggested this species, I wanted to double-check it really was. Firstly I needed to check I had it to the correct genus. Under both Leptopterna species, the British Bugs website draws attention to the transverse furrow between the eyes, whereas for the superficially similar (and variable) Stenodema and Notostira species it draws attention to a longitudinal furrow between the eyes. This had an obvious longitudinal furrow between the rear half of the eyes but although it had a transverse brownish mark between the back of the eyes, this did not seem to be a furrow. There was a vague 'neck' just behind the eyes which could perhaps be described as a longitudinal furrow (especially at the sides behind the eyes) but this wasn't between the eyes. This prompted me to wonder if in fact it could be Notostira (the lack of a pitted pronotum easily eliminated Stenodema) but I couldn't bring myself to believe that - its habitus looked exactly like Leptopterna ferrugata and I couldn't find any photos of Notostira that looked anywhere near as similar. Adding to my confusion, if I was right in thinking it was Leptopterna, ferrugata is meant to have the second antennal segment roughly equal to the third and fourth combined, whereas it is much longer in dolobrata - on mine it was a good 10% longer - too much to be "roughly equal" if perhaps not enough to be "much longer"?

A quick perusal of images of Leptopterna confirmed that this species also has an obvious longitudinal furrow. I've recently acquired the new German bugs books and the key to genera also confirmed it should have the longitudinal furrow. They focus on the relative width of the vertex vs. eyes for separating ferrugata from dolobrata rather than antennal ratios and once I'd worked out where to measure the vertex (between the eyes based on their diagrams), mine fitted ferrugata exactly based on that criterion.

Leptopterna ferrugata showing antenna and various views of head, Wendling Beck Project (Norfolk, UK), 21st June 2026