EUURA MELANOCEPHALUS GROUP

Euura melanocephalus - Dark-headed Nematine

Nematus melanocephalus Hartig, 1837
Pteronus xanthostomus Rohwer, 1910

North to Shetland, not especially common (Musgrove, 2024).

The female is yellow with a black frontal ocellar spot and black on the occipital field, mesonotum, usually the scutellum at least in the middle in the middle, the prosternum, and most of the mesosternum. The legs are yellow with black on the hind tibiae apices and the tarsi. The male is similarly coloured. The antennae are often brown on the underside. 

Euura melanocephalus larvae feed on willows and sometimes birches, hazels, poplars and elms.

Size: Female: 6.5 - 8.0mm, male: 5.0 - 6.0mm.

GB IUCN status: Least Concern
GB rarity status: None

Distribution: England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland

Flight period: May to June, July to September

Plant associations: Salix spp., and sometimes Betula spp., Corylus spp., Populus spp. and Ulmus spp. (willows and sometimes birches, hazels, poplars and elms).

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

Muche, W.H., 1974. Die Nematinengattungen Pristiphora Latreille, Pachynematus Konow und Nematus Panzer (Hym., Temthredinidae). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift, 21(1/3), pp.1-137.

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 Natural England, unpublished

Prous, M., Liston, A., Kramp, K., Savina, H., Vårdal, H. and Taeger, A., 2019. The West Palaearctic genera of Nematinae (Hymenoptera, Tenthredinidae). ZooKeys, 875, p.63-127