Pristiphora depressa - Flattened Sawyer
Pristiphora depressa group

Not known in Britain until single adults were recorded from Wiltshire in 2021 (Gibbs 2022) and Buckinghamshire in 2023. The species was not featured in Benson (1958) and so it is feasible that some earlier records may have gone unidentified, but the pattern of records seems more suggestive of a newly colonising species. (Musgrove, 2024).

Similar to subbifida. The head in dorsal view has only small pale spots (extensively pale in subbifida) and on the thorax the metapostnotum is black (at least partially pale in subbifida). Legs are for the most part pale. Pterostigma dark. Males are unknown. The female is best determined by the characteristics of the saw and sawsheath.

Pristiphora depressa larvae feed on maples and sycamore species.

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Size: 5.0 - 7.0mm

GB IUCN status: Not applicable
GB rarity status: Nationally Rare

Distribution: England

Flight period: May to July

Plant associations: Acer spp. (maples, sycamore, etc.)

The National Biodiversity Network records are shown on the map below. (See terms and conditions)

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References:

Benson, R.B., 1952. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects. Hymenoptera, Symphyta, Vol 6, Section 2(a-c), Royal Entomological Society, London

Gibbs, D., 2022. Pristiphora depressa (Hymenoptera:Tenthredinidae) new to Britain. British Journal of Entomology and Natural History vol. 35 pt1 p1-4

Liston, A. D. & Späth, J. 2008: On the sawflies of Cyprus, with a revision of the Pristiphora subbifida species group (Hymenoptera, Symphyta). - Mitteilungen der Münchner Entomologischen Gesellschaft, München 98: 99-120

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 Natural England, unpublished

Prous, M., Kramp, K., Vikberg, V. and Liston, A., 2017. north-Western Palaearctic species of Pristiphora (hymenoptera, tenthredinidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research, Vol. 59