EUURA VIMINALIS GROUP

Euura aquilonis - Northern Pea-galler

Pontania aquilonis Benson, 1941
Eupontania aquilonis (Benson, 1941)
Pontania algida Benson, 1941

In Britain, this species is only known from four females collected from catkins of Salix herbacea on Meall na Samhne, Perthshire, in 1932 (Benson 1941b). The gall is, however, indistinguishable from that of Euura herbaceae, requiring the larvae to be extracted and examined in order to name correctly. There is potential for significant under-recording, therefore (Musgrove, 2024).

See Liston et al (2017) for determination of adults. The host plant is an upland species. Within this group, males of Euura aquilonis, crassipes, collectanea, myrsiniticola, pedunculi, saliciscinereae, samolad, viminalis, herbaceae and arbusculae are inseparable.

Euura aquilonis larvae feed on Dwarf Willow causing spherical or bladder-shaped galls attached to the midrib and develop only below the leaf-blade or projecting on both sides. The galls cannot be distinguished from those of Euura herbaceae. The larvae have four annulets on abdominal segments one to eight (three in herbaceae).

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Size: Female: 3.4 - 5.3mm, male: 3.3 - 4.9mm

GB IUCN Status: Data Deficient
GB Rarity Status: Unclear

Distribution: Scotland

Flight period: Univoltine

Plant associations: Salix herbacea (Dwarf Willow)

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.D., Heibo, E., Prous, M., Vårdal, H., Nyman, T. and Vikberg, V., 2017. North European gall-inducing Euura sawflies (Hymenoptera, Tenthredinidae, Nematinae). Zootaxa, 4302(1), pp.1-115.

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

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 Natural England, unpublished