''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 are a subfamily of sawflies within the family Tenthredinidae, the largest sawfly family. It consists of about 50 genera, including the type genus ''Tenthredo''. It also includes most of the larger and more colourful members of the ...

Distribution and habitat

This species is widespread across Europe,

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and

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

, in meadows wherever Figwort 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 wasplike 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. Th ...

. 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 rather large larvae may reach a length of about 30 millimeters. They have a dark head, with a dusty greyish-white and black-spotted body.

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, common hogweed or cow parsnip, is a herbaceous perennial or biennial plant, in the umbelliferous family Apiaceae that includes fennel, cow parsley, ground elder and giant hogweed. It is nat ...

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

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 ...

, (''Scrophularia'').Peter A. Hambäck, Johan P. Dahlgren, Petter Andersson, Sonja G. Rabas, Riccardo Bommarco, Johan Ehrlén (2011): Plant Trait-Mediated Interactions between Early and Late Herbivores on Common Figwort (''

Scrophularia nodosa ''Scrophularia nodosa'' (also called figwort, woodland figwort, and common figwort) is a perennial herbaceous plant found in temperate regions of the Northern hemisphere except western North America. It grows in moist and cultivated waste groun ...

'') and Effects on Plant Seed Set. Ecoscience 18(4): 375-381 They also occur on ''

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

'' and on black mullein (''

Verbascum nigrum ''Verbascum nigrum'', the black mullein or dark mullein, is a species of biennial or short-lived perennial herbaceous plant in the mullein genus ''Verbascum'', native to dry open sites in temperate Europe. It grows to . ''Verbascum nigrum'' form ...

''), 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 the ichneumon wasps, Darwin wasps, or ichneumonids, are a family (biology), family of parasitoid wasps of the insect order Hymenoptera. They are one of the most diverse groups within the Hymenoptera with roughly 2 ...

'' ('' Mesoleptidea prosoleuca'' and ''

Euceros serricornis ''Euceros'' is a worldwide genus of ichneumon wasps in the family Ichneumonidae. It is the sole genus of the subfamily Eucerotinae. ''Euceros'' species are hyperparasitoids of Ichneumonoidea. First instar larvae hatch from eggs laid on leaf s ...

'').

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 Sawflies described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Insect pests of ornamental plants Tenthredinidae