Periclista albida - Brown Bordered Oak-cutter

Recorded widely across England and Wales north to Cumbria and Yorkshire; no recent Scottish records although Benson (1952) described the range as extending north to Perthshire (Musgrove, 2023).

The head is black and the abdomen broadly yellow above. The stigma is yellow and the legs are mostly yellow but with black bases to the femora.

In the male, the thorax is black marked paler on the tegulae, hind margin of pronotum and on the mesonotum. In the female, the thorax is mostly red above and the yellow of the abdomen more or less spotted piceous on the tergites.

Periclista albida larvae feed on sessile and English oak. This species has the shortest branched bristles of the British species with the branches much longer than the stems. The anal abdominal segment has 2 branched bristles in the middle with 3 simple bristles on either side. The head is also paler.

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Size: 5 - 7mm

GB IUCN Status: Least Concern
GB Rarity Status: None

Distribution: England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland

Flight period: April to May

Plant associations: Quercus petraea and Quercus robur (sessile and English oak)

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

Lorenz, H. and Kraus, M., 1957. Die Larvalsystematik der Blattwespen (Tenthredinoidea und Megalodontoidea) aus dem Zoologischen Inst. Univ. Erlangen. Abh. Larvalsyst. Ins, (1).

Musgrove, A.J. 2023. A review of the status of sawflies of Great Britain - Phase 2: The Athaliidae and the Tenthredinidae (excluding Nematinae). Natural England, unpublished