There are two species of Desmometopa known from GB, sordida and palpalia, the latter only known from one record in 1909. There have also been occasional records of introduced species, m-nigrum has not been recorded from GB.
As Peter states it would require a specimen to confirm its presence in Essex. I would be more than happy to look at any sent on to me. To identify such a small insect on circumstantial evidence would be a bit like assuming two people standing at a bus stop must be married.
Your Forum
This forum has now been more or less replaced by the Club's Facebook page at 
The weblog below is for naturalists to use to report interesting sightings, ask questions, report on field meetings and generally post pictures and any information or questions generally relevant in some way to the wildlife and geology of Essex. You will need to register and be logged-on to post to the forum, and you need to upload pictures first, for use in posts. Find out more
The weblog below is for naturalists to use to report interesting sightings, ask questions, report on field meetings and generally post pictures and any information or questions generally relevant in some way to the wildlife and geology of Essex. You will need to register and be logged-on to post to the forum, and you need to upload pictures first, for use in posts. Find out more