Tenthredo temula

Recorded throughout most of England and Wales, with a few records in Scotland north to Edinburgh (Musgrove, 2023).

A black and yellow species, common in hedgerows. The antennae, pronotum and whole of thorax above are black. The fore wing stigma is dark but the costa is mainly yellow. The entire tergite 3 and sides of 4 are yellow creating an inverted "U".

Tenthredo temula larva are polyphagous and feed on Common Cow-wheat, Privet, Roses, Rowans and Blackthorn.

Jump to other species of Tenthredo

Size: 10 - 12mm

GB IUCN Status: Least Concern
GB Rarity Status: None

Distribution: England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland

Flight period: May to June

Plant associations: Polyphagous including Common Cow-wheat (Melampyrum pratense), Privet (Ligustrum spp.), Roses (Rosa spp.), Rowans (Sorbus spp.) and Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)

References:

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

Fekete, K. (2018) Beginner’s guide to identifying British Tenthredo, Natural History Museum, London. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/content/dam/nhmwww/take-part/identification-trainers/sawflies-guide-id-trainees.pdf [Accessed 26Apr2019]

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

Macek, J., Roller, L., Beneš, K., Holý, K. and Holuša, J., 2020. Blanokřídlí České a Slovenské republiky: Širopasí. Academia.

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 Natural England, unpublished