Allantus

Allantus

Allantus is characterised in the Allantini by having a hindwing with neither an enclosed middle cell nor peripheral vein. In the forewing, the anal cell is complete and with an oblique cross-vein. On the underside of the thorax, the propleura meet with a broad connection. The antennae, which are nine-segmented, have the eighth antennal segment almost three times as long as the breadth at the apex of that segment. The post-genal carina extends beyond the top of the eyes almost as far as the post-occipital area.

Allantus is primarily a Eurasian genus with a few species located in the Americas. There are 10 species listed in Britain, four of which are also recorded in Ireland. These species are divided into the two subgenera Emphytus and Allantus though some authors consider these as separate genera. The adults are slender-bodied and often with a white or yellow band on one of the tergites. The larvae are free living and on maturity tunnel into twigs and stems to overwinter.

Species list:

Allantus (Allantus) togatus (Panzer, 1801)

Allantus (Emphytus) basalis (Klug, 1818)

Allantus (Emphytus) calceatus (Klug, 1818)

Allantus (Emphytus) cinctus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Allantus (Emphytus) cingulatus (Scopoli, 1763)

Allantus (Emphytus) coryli (Stritt, 1937)

Allantus (Emphytus) laticinctus (Serville, 1823)

Allantus (Emphytus) melanarius (Klug, 1818)

Allantus (Emphytus) rufocinctus (Retzius, 1783)

Allantus (Emphytus) truncatus (Klug, 1818)