Euura nigricornis (Serville, 1823)

EUURA MILIARIS GROUP

Euura nigricornis - Black-horn Nematine

Nematus nigricornis Serville, 1823
Nematus zetterstedti Dahlbom, 1835
Nematus miniatus Hartig, 1837
Nematus sibiricus Jakovlev, 1888

North to Yorkshire, more isolated records in Scotland (Musgrove, 2024).

Males are rare. In the female the head is orange-red with the anterior of the postocellar area black, but the black colouring can be extensive across the entire head. In the male the head is almost always darkened so that only the labrum, clypeus, more or less the orbits are orange-red. The thorax is black with yellow-red on the posterior corners of the pronotum, the tegulae, sometimes the sides of the prescutum and rarely the mesopleura and metapleura. The abdomen is orange-red at least at the sides and below. If the abdomen is extensively darkened above, then at least the hind margin of the tergites is orange-red. The legs are yellow with black is on the bases of the coxae and the top of the tibiae and tarsi.

Euura nigricornis larvae feed on poplars and willows. The cerci are blunt which distinguishes the larvae from Euura krausi larvae.

Size: Female: 6.0 - 8.0mm, male: 6.0 - 7.0mm.

GB IUCN status: Least Concern
GB rarity status: None

Distribution: England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland

Flight period: May to June, July to August

Plant associations: Populus spp. and Salix spp. (poplars and willows).