''Tenthredo scrophulariae'', the figwort sawfly, is a species of the family

Tenthredinidae Tenthredinidae is the largest family of sawflies, with well over 7,500 species worldwide, divided into 430 genera. Larvae are herbivores and typically feed on the foliage of trees and shrubs, with occasional exceptions that are leaf miners, stem ...

, subfamily

Tenthredininae Tenthredininae is a subfamily of sawflies within the family Tenthredinidae, the largest sawfly family. It consists of 28 genera, including the type genus ''Tenthredo''. It also includes most of the larger and more colourful members of the family. ...

Distribution and habitat

This species is widespread across

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and

Transcaucasia The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and West Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Armenia, ...

, in meadows wherever

figwort The genus ''Scrophularia'' of the family Scrophulariaceae comprises about 200 species of herbaceous flowering plants commonly known as figworts. Species of ''Scrophularia'' all share square stems, opposite leaves and open two-lipped flowers for ...

grows.

Description

''Tenthredo scrophulariae'' can reach a body length of approximately .James K. Lindse
The Ecology of Commanster
/ref> It is easily recognisable by its wasp-like appearance although lacking the thin 'waist' of a true

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

. The head is black and quite short, with prominent, rectangular back corners. The flagellum of the antennae is not narrowed on the tip, it is quite short (less than twice as long as the head width) compared to many related species. It is orange colored, while in most similar species of the genus it is black. The thorax is predominantly black, only the pronotum and scutellum are yellow. The abdomen is black, with transverse bands of yellow. The leading edge of the forewings, including the veins, is intense orange-red colored, while the remaining wing-membrane is transparent pale yellowish, gray tinted towards the tip. The front legs are almost completely yellow, but the upper sides of the femurs are black. The middle and the rear legs are orange, but the femurs of the rear legs completely black. In the middle leg pair, the femurs may be completely black or with only black rear sides. The larvae are relatively large, with a length of and possessing 22 legs. They have a white body with black spots, and feed on

s and mullein.

Biology

The larvae feed from August to September. They hibernate on October. The adults are on the wing from May to August of the following year. These sawflies are quite placid and allow close observation. They fly in a lazy style with their long yellow legs hanging down. The adults feed on small insects and can be often found on umbellifers (''

Heracleum sphondylium ''Heracleum sphondylium'', commonly known as hogweed or common hogweed, is a herbaceous perennial plant in the carrot family Apiaceae, which includes fennel, cow parsley, ground elder and Heracleum mantegazzianum, giant hogweed. It is native to m ...

''), feeding on nectar and pollen. The larvae feed primarily on leaves of figwort (''

Scrophularia The genus ''Scrophularia'' of the family Scrophulariaceae comprises about 200 species of herbaceous flowering plants commonly known as figworts. Species of ''Scrophularia'' all share square stems, opposite leaves and open two-lipped flowers fo ...

''). They also occur on ''

Buddleja ''Buddleja'' (; ''Buddleia''; also historically given as ''Buddlea'') is a genus comprising over 140 species of flowering plants endemicity, endemic to Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The generic name bestowed by Carl Linnaeus, Linnaeus posthu ...

'' and on black mullein ('' Verbascum nigrum''), where they feed only on the less hairy, older leaves.A.D. Liston (2010): New hostplant records for European sawflies (Hymenoptera, Tenthredinidae). Entomologist's Monthly Magazine Vol. 146 No. 1754: 189–193. The larvae are parasitized by various parasitoid species of

Ichneumonidae The Ichneumonidae, also known as ichneumon wasps, ichneumonid wasps, ichneumonids, or Darwin wasps, are a family of parasitoid wasps of the insect order Hymenoptera. They are one of the most diverse groups within the Hymenoptera with roughly 25 ...

('' Mesoleptidea prosoleuca'' and '' Euceros serricornis'').

Gallery

File:Tenthredo.scrophulariae3.-.lindsey.jpg, Mating File:Tenthredo scrophulariae 01 by-dpc.jpg, Larva File:Tenthredo.scrophulariae9.-.lindsey.jpg, Close-up on a wing File:Tenthredinidae - Tenthredo scrophulariae-001.JPG, Imago

References

* R.R. Benson: Hymenoptera 2. Symphyta, Section b. Handbook for the identification of British insects Vol. VI Part 2b. Published by the Royal Entomological Society of London. 1952

External links

LES TENTHREDES at Aramel.free
{{Taxonbar, from=Q902281 Tenthredinidae Hymenoptera of Asia Hymenoptera of Europe Insect pests of ornamental plants Sawflies described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Articles containing video clips