EUURA VIMINALIS GROUP

Euura samolad - Downy Pea-galler

Pontania samolad Malaise, 1920
Eupontania samolad (Malaise, 1920)

Only known from two 19th century Scottish herbarium specimens of Salix lapponum (Benson 1954b). A dedicated survey of this willow for its five monophagous Euura species would be worthwhile (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 samolad larvae feed on Downy willow and its hybrid with Tea-leaved willow. The gall is in contact with the midrib, projecting only below the leaf-blade. The pea shaped gall is often rather small with dense, adpressed hair, without warts and green to bright red.

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Size: Female: 3.2 - 6.2mm, male: 2.7 - 4.8mm

GB IUCN status: Data Deficient
GB rarity status: Nationally Rare

Distribution: Scotland

Flight period: Univoltine

Plant associations: Salix lapponum and Salix lapponum x phylicifolia (Downy 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 Natural England, unpublished