EUURA VIMINALIS GROUP
Euura herbaceae - Dwarf Pea-galler
Nematus herbaceae Cameron, 1876
Eupontania herbaceae (Cameron, 1876)
Pontania polaris Malaise, 1920
Scotland, Cumbria and Snowdonia. Benson (1958) described the species as 'locally common in arctic-alpine zones'. The current distribution of records supports this, with the proviso that most records do not specifically exclude the possibility of Euura aquilonis. For the time being, it is assumed that the majority do indeed refer to herbaceae but this should be established more firmly in future (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.
Larvae feed on Dwarf Willow forming a pea gall, in contact with the midrib, projecting about equally above and below the leaf-blade. The gall is smooth and without hairs. The galls cannot be distinguished from those of Euura aquilonis. The larvae are marked with grey to black spots (absent in aquilonis) and have three annulets on abdominal segments one to eight (four in aquilonis).
Jump to other group viminalis species
Size: Female: 2.8 - 4.4mm, male: 3.2 - 4.6mm
GB IUCN status: Least Concern
GB rarity status: None
Distribution: England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland
Flight period: Univoltine
Plant associations: Salix herbacea (Dwarf Willow)
The National Biodiversity Network records are shown on the map below. (See terms and conditions)
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- Euura herbaceae larva on Dwarf Willow Credit James Harding-Morris
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- Euura herbaceae larva on Dwarf Willow Credit James Harding-Morris
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- Euura herbaceae larva on Dwarf Willow Credit James Harding-Morris
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- Euura herbaceae gall on Downy Willow Credit Andy Musgrove
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- Euura herbaceae gall on Dwarf Willow Credit Paul Cobb
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