Pristiphora saxesenii - Saxesen's Spruce Sawyer, Saxesen's Spruce Sawfly
Pristiphora abietina group

Scattered records throughout Britain, slightly more frequent than some other spruce-feeding sawflies, but still a notably low volume of data given the abundance of the available foodplant in Britain. Enston & Williams (2023) found this to be the third most frequent nematine in yellow bowl traps in two Welsh spruce forests (Musgrove, 2024).

The stigma is usually dark. Claws have a small subapical tooth. In the female, the sawsheath is short and tapers from base to apex when viewed from above. Males should be determined by the penis valve.

Pristiphora saxesenii larvae feed on Norway Spruce and develop rapidly (10 to 15 days).

Jump to other species of Pristiphora

Size: Probably 6.0 - 7.5mm

GB IUCN status: Least Concern
GB rarity status: None

Distribution: England, Scotland, Wales

Flight period: May to July

Plant associations: Picea abies (Norway Spruce)

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

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 Natural England, unpublished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