EUURA VIMINALIS GROUP

Euura pedunculi - Sallow Pea-galler

Nematus pedunculi Hartig, 1837
Eupontania pedunculi (Hartig, 1837)
Nematus bellus Zaddach, 1876
Nematus baccarum Cameron, 1876
Pontania pusilla Lindqvist, 1964
Euura viminalis Kopelke, 2001
Pontania pedunculi (Hartig, 1837)

North to Orkney, very common and widespread (Musgrove, 2024).

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

Note that specimens determined as Euura brevicornis by Liston in 2012 have been re-identified as pedunculi and brevicornis is now removed from the British list.

Euura pedunculi larvae feed on Eared Willow, Goat Willow and its hybrid with Tea-leaved Willow. The final instar larva emerges from the gall to overwinter externally. The larva is uniformly brown and has minute pseudocerci on the supraanal plate so close together as to appear as one. The gall is usually in contact with the midrib, projecting only below the leaf-blade. The pea-shaped gall is variably hairy, often warty and green often flushed with red. Larvae will overwinter in stems and pith, etc.

Jump to other group viminalis species

Size: Female: 2.5 - 4.3mm, male: 2.8 - 3.7mm

GB IUCN status: Least Concern
GB rarity status: None

Distribution: England, Scotland, Ireland

Flight period: Univoltine, possibly bivoltine in Southern England

Plant associations: Salix aurita, Salix caprea and Salix caprea x phylicifolia (Eared Willow, Goat Willow and its hybrid with Tea-leaved 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 Natural England, unpublished

Vikberg, V. & Zinovjev, A. 2006: On the taxonomy and the host plants of North European species of Eupontania (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae: Nematinae). - Beiträge zur Entomologie, Keltern 56 (2): 239-268