''Saperda populnea'', the small poplar borer, is a species of

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

in the family

Cerambycidae The longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae), also known as long-horned or longicorns (whose larvae are often referred to as roundheaded borers), are a large family of beetles, with over 35,000 species described. Most species are characterized by anten ...

which forms woody

galls Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to benign tumors or wart ...

on twigs of

poplars ''Populus'' is a genus of 25–30 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar (), aspen, and cottonwood. The we ...

and

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

s. It was described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in 1758.

Description

The beetles can be found from May to July, with the female makes a horseshoe shaped cut and laying an egg in the incision. The gall develops in an internode as a symmetrical swelling, which can be 20 mm long, and contains a yellowish larva or pupa in a single elongate chamber. An exit hole is made in the spring. It is most common on aspen (''

Populus tremula ''Populus tremula'' (commonly called aspen, common aspen, Eurasian aspen, European aspen, or quaking aspen) is a species of poplar native to cool temperate regions of the Old World. Description It is a substantial deciduous tree growing to t ...

'') and also found on black cottonwood ( ''P. trichocarpa''), black poplar ( ''P. nigra'') and goat willow (''

Salix caprea ''Salix caprea'', known as goat willow, pussy willow or great sallow, is a common species of willow native to Europe and western and central Asia.Meikle, R. D. (1984). ''Willows and Poplars of Great Britain and Ireland''. BSBI Handbook 4. . De ...

''). In Britain the gall is commonest on the young twigs of aspen.

Distribution

Has been recorded in the following countries, Albania, Algeria, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic (Bohemia, Moravia), France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Mongolia, Morocco, Mexico, North Korea, Poland, Romania, Russia, Sardinia, Serbia, Sicily, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q572525 populnea Beetles described in 1758 Beetles of Asia Beetles of Europe Beetles of North America Gall-inducing insects Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Willow galls