Euura clitellata (Serville, 1823)

Euura clitellata (formerly Pachynematus clitellatus)

A variable species both in terms of lightness/darkness and morphology. It is broadly similar to Euura fallax. Benson treated clitellatus and truncatus as seperate species, but these are now considered as one under clitellata. Euura kirbyi may also be a variant of clitellata. Based on nuclear genes, clitellata contains at least four species and fallax three or four, but morphological differences are unclear so splitting is unlikely in the near future (Prous, pers. comms.).

A sawfly of meadows and grasslands.  The male is mostly a browny-black but usually with a paler orange-brown hypopygium. The male has a square to rectangular projection at the apex of the eighth tergite which is rounded or truncate at the end and, at most, minimally indented at the base of the projection. The projection may be pale or darkened centrally. The female is marked with orange-brown to a greater or lesser extent and may be green or orange-brown on the sternites. Females can often be separated from fallax by the colouration on the mesoscutellum. If the mesoscutellum has some pale colour, then it has a black line in the middle in fallax, whilst in clitellata it is then either completely pale or pale anteriorly.

Euura clitellata larvae feed on grasses, sedges and rushes.

Size: 6 - 7mm.

Status: Common

Distribution: England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland

Flight period: May to September

Plant associations: Gramineae, Carex, Juncus (grasses, sedges, rushes)