Violet Black-legged Robberfly Dioctria atricapilla

This seemed distinctive enough to be worth a look. Before I examined it properly I had a session with Martin Greenland who showed me several examples of this species, and I wondered if the insect I'd collected a few days earlier might proved to be the same thing. I keyed it using Stubbs & Drake and confirmed that this was indeed the case.

female Violet Black-legged Robberfly Dioctria atricapilla, Wendling Beck Project (Norfolk, UK), 23rd May 2026