Scolioneura betuleti

Recorded widely across all of mainland Britain, as well as Orkney and the Inner Hebrides (Musgrove, 2023).

Benson considered this species to be bivoltine. Altenhofer and Taeger, 1980 proposed separating the two generations into Scolioneura betuli and Scolioneura vicina on the basis of the phenology alone. However, MacQuarrie et al, 2007 found no genetic difference between the two proposed species. Subsequently, Leppänen et al, 2012 also found overlap between the two phenological populations further supporting the argument that the two proposed species are in fact conspecific.

Scolioneura betuleti is a small black species with legs that are mainly reddish-yellow but with black coxae, trochanters, to some extent the base of the femora and the apical tarsal segments.

Scolioneura betuleti larvae mine the leaves of birch species, especially young birches. The larvae are hosts to the parasitic wasp Lathrolestes pleuralis.

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Size: 4 - 5mm

GB IUCN Status: Least Concern
GB Rarity Status: None

Distribution: England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland

Flight period: May to June and July to September

Plant associations: Betula spp. (birches)

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

References:

Altenhofer, E. and Taeger, A., 1998. Zur Kenntnis der Gattung Scolioneura Konow, 1890 (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae). Pflanzenwespen Deutschlands (Hymenoptera, Symphyta). Kommentierte Bestandsaufnahme, pp.225-226.

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

Edmunds, R. 2008: Scolioneura vicina (Konow, 1894) (Hym-: Tenthredinidae): first records for mainland Britain. - Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation 120: 129-131.

Leppänen, S.; Altenhofer, E.; Liston, A. D.; Nyman, T. 2012: Phylogenetics and evolution of host-plant use in leaf-mining sawflies (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae: Heterarthrinae). - Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, San Diego/Calif. 64: 331-341.

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 Natural England, unpublished

MacQuarrie, C. J. L.; Langor, D. W. & Sperling, F. A. H. 2007: Mitochondrial DNA variation in two invasive birch leaf-mining sawflies in North America. - The Canadian Entomologist, Ottawa 139 (4): 545-55