Rove beetle? Maybe species ID?

[Toby]

Bushy Pk, London. Only about 3mm

[Klaas Reißmann]

Hello Toby,

this is a Rove beetle of the genus Metopsia. There are two species known of central Europe and I have no idea if both of them occur in Britain or not. So I can't tell you if it's M. clypeata (syn. M. retusa and M. gallica) or M. similis (syn. M. clypeata). Maybe someone else can tell us.

Regards
Klaas

[serendipity]

Looking at the 2008 checklist of British beetles we appear to only have METOPSIA clypeata!