Endophytus anemones - Wood Anemone Sawfly

Scattered records in England and Wales. Since its initial discovery (Benson 1961a), it has remained unaccountably rare, given that the foodplant is widespread and there has been an increasing interest in the recording of leaf-mines. It still seems likely that it is hugely overlooked (Musgrove, 2024).

Males are unknown. Females have at least the base of the hind femora completely black on at least one face. Entirely black body with pale labrum, clypeus in part, tibiae, tarsi in part and the apices of the femora. The wing venation in this species is unstable and anomolies are common. See LIston et al, 2019.

Endophytus anemones larvae mine the leaves of wood anemones and naturalised wood ginger.

Jump to information on the genus Endophytus

Size: 3 - 4mm

GB IUCN Status: Near Threatened
GB Rarity Status: Nationally Rare

Distribution: England, Wales

Flight period: Mar to May

Plant associations: Anemone nemorosa and Anemone ranunculoides (wood anemone and wood ginger)

The National Biodiversity Network records are shown on the map below. (See terms and conditions)

References:

Benson, R.B., 1952. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects. Hymenoptera, Symphyta, Vol 6, Section 2(a-c), Royal Entomological Society, London

Liston A, Knight G, Sheppard D, Broad G, Livermore L (2014) Checklist of British and Irish Hymenoptera - Sawflies, ‘Symphyta’. Biodiversity Data Journal 2: e1168. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.2.e1168

Liston, A., Prous, M. and Vardal, H., 2019. The West Palaearctic Pseudodineura and Endophytus species (Hymenoptera, Tenthredinidae). Zootaxa, 4614(3), pp.511-528.

Musgrove, A.J. 2024. A review of the status of sawflies of Great Britain - Phase 3: The Tenthredinidae (subfamily Nematinae). Natural England, unpublished