Pristiphora testacea - Testaceous Sawyer
Species not placed in a group

Widespread to northern Scotland. This would seem to be a species that has increased, given that Benson (1958) listed occurrence in just five southern English counties (Musgrove, 2024).

Females have an entirely black underside to the thorax and an entirely black stigma. The abdomen is mainly yellow above and at least partly so beneath, and the sawsheath is also yellow. In the male, the mesopleura are black and the underside of the abdomen entirely pale. Males can also be determined by examination of the penis valves.

Pristiphora testacea larvae feed socially on silver birch and downy birch. They are green with a distinctive egg-yolk yellow spot on each segment just above the leg. The head is brown in early instars becoming black in maturity.

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Size: 5.0 - 7.0mm

GB IUCN status: Least Concern
GB rarity status: None

Distribution: England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland

Flight period: April to June and July to August

Plant associations: Betula pendula and Betula pubescens (silver birch and downy birch)

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 Natural England, unpublished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, 59