Pristiphora bohemica, Macek, 2012

Macek, Jan, 2012, Pristiphora bohemica sp. nov., a new sawfly species from the Czech Republic (Hymenoptera: Symphyta: Tenthredinidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 52 (1), pp. 267-272 : 268-272

Pristiphora bohemica sp. nov.

( Figs. 1 , 3 , 5 )

Type locality. Czech Republic, South Bohemia, Třeboň env., Stříbřecký most (bridge) (6955), 434 m a. s. l, 49°1′48″N, 14°51′16″E.

Type material. HOLOTYPE: ♀ ( NMPC), ‘ Czech Republic, Bohemia meridionalis, Třeboň env., Stříbřecký most, 28.v., ex Spiraea salicifolia , e.l. 5.iv.09, Macek lgt. 08 [white label, printed] // Holotypus, J. Macek des. [red label] // Pristiphora bohemica sp.n., J. Macek det. 2012 [white label, printed]’. PARATYPES: 4 JJ 4 ♀♀ ( NMPC), the same data as holotype. All paratypes bear the following printed labels: ‘ Czech Republic, Bohemia meridionalis, Třeboň env., Stříbřecký most, 28.v., ex Spiraea salicifolia , e.l. 5.iv.09, Macek lgt. 08 [white label, printed] // Paratypus, J. Macek des. [red label] // Pristiphora bohemica sp.n., J. Macek det. 2012 [white label, printed]’.

Additional material. CZECH REPUBLIC: BOHEMIA mer.: Borkovická blata NR (6753), 9.vi.2010, 8 larvae on Spiraea salicifolia ; Novořecké močály NR (6955), 31.v.2011, 5 larvae on Spiraea salicifolia ; all J. Macek lgt. & det. ( NMPC) .

Description. Female ( Figs. 1a, 1c ). Length: 5.5–6.5 mm. Colouration. Head including antennae black, mandibles and labrum yellow. Thorax black, pronotum yellow except for an infuscation in ventral corner. Abdomen black, terga 2–7 with small yellow lateral spots on posterior margin, tergum 8 yellow with black medial spot, terga 9+10 yellow, all sterna yellow; cerci yellow, ovipositor sheath brown. All legs yellow, besides black metatarsi. Wings translucent, costa, subcosta and pterostigma yellow, the remaining veins brown.

Head shiny with fine, dense punctures, with short, dense, pale pubescence; in dorsal view transverse with temples parallel and rounded posteriorly; postocellar area strongly convex, twice as wide as long, lateral postocellar furrows short, slightly depressed, divergent; OOL: POL: OOCL = 1: 1.1: 0.7; frontal area flat; frontal pit deep, narrowly elliptical; clypeus flat, shiny, with straight anterior margin; malar space slightly longer than diameter of anterior ocellus; antenna a little longer than head and thorax combined; relative lengths of flagellomeres 3–9 are about 1: 1.14: 1.19: 1: 0.98: 0.88: 0.77.

Thorax. Median mesoscutal lobe with dense shallow puncture, interspaces feebly alutaceous; median mesoscutellar groove depressed anteriorly, raising to slight carina posteriorly; lateral mesoscutal lobes covered with sparse and shallow punctures with smooth and shining interspaces; mesoscutellum slightly convex, shining, with fine sparse punctures; mesopleuron smooth, with very sparse, fine punctures; mesoscutellar appendage with strong, deep punctures; metascutellum smooth, shiny; legs with metatarsus shorter than metatibia, metabasitarsus slightly shorter than three following tarsomeres combined; inner tibial spur of metatibia a little shorter than half of the metabasitarsus, claws with small inner tooth.

Abdomen cylindrical with apex rounded posteriorly, terga finely alutaceous, sterna shiny with denser punctation on posterior halves; hypopygium deeply emarginate laterally of median process; sawsheath shorter than metatibia, in lateral view with rounded apex ( Fig. 3c ); in dorsal view widened posteriorly with emarginate dorsoapical scopa ( Figs 3a, 3b ); cerci short, not reaching beyond the apex of sawsheath; lancet of ovipositor narrow, tapering toward apex with oblique sutures without ctenidia ( Fig. 3d ).

Male ( Fig. 1b ). Body length 4.5–5.0 mm; in colour and morphology similar to female except for the following colour pattern: femora in part infuscate, abdomen nearly completely black except the yellow last sternite. Penis valvae as in Fig. 3e .

Larva ( Fig. 5 ). Body length 4.0–5.0 mm. Ground colour green, head yellow green; dark transparent dorsal vessel with flanking white bands of fat body. Cuticle smooth; thoracic segments with two rows of tiny black warts bearing short setae; abdominal segments with six annulets, the second annulet with 3–4 bristles, the fourth annulet with 4 bristles; the first and second postspiracular lobe with three small black warts with short setae; subspiracular and surpedal lobes with four small black warts with short setae.

Variability. In adult females the yellow pattern on the abdominal tergites varies to some extent from largely yellow to predominantly black.

Differential diagnosis. Pristiphora bohemica sp. nov. is morphologically similar to P. angulata Lindqvist, 1974 ( Figs. 2 , 4 ), differing from it in the ovipositor sheath rounded in profile and dorsoapical scopa emarginate in dorsal view, and largely yellow abdominal sterna. In P. angulata the ovipositor sheaths are subtruncate in profile and tapered posteriorly in dorsal view, the abdominal sterna being mostly black. The males of both species are morphologically identical and distinguished only by the genitalia. For comparison the following material of P. angulata was examined: Russia, St. Peterburg distr., Voronya gora Mt., 14.v.1984, 2 JJ 1 ♀ ex Spiraea chamaedryfolia, A. G. Zinovjev lgt. & det. (NMPC).

Etymology. The species name refers to the area of origin, Bohemia, the western historical land of the Czech Republic.

Bionomics. The larvae were swept from Spiraea salicifolia (Rosaceae) in riverine marshy meadows together with the larvae of the sawfly Dinax ermak and the butterfly Neptis coenobita (Scopoli, 1763) ( Lepidoptera : Nymphalidae ) from the end of May to the beginning of June 2008. Full grown larvae form a firm cocoon in the soil debris in which they hibernate as prepupae. They pupate in the next spring. All adults (5 females, 4 males) emerged on April 5, 2009.

Distribution. Czech Republic: southern Bohemia. Based on the findings of larvae in 2009– 2011, the distribution range of P. bohemica sp. nov. in the Czech Republic corresponds with the native distribution pattern of Spiraea salicifolia in southern Bohemia ( KOBLÍŽEK 1992). Supposedly this is a vicariant species to its relative P. angulata , so far known only from Scandinavia, Estonia and Russia ( LINDQVIST 1974, TAEGER & BLANK 2011).

Figures

Figs. 1–2. Habitus. 1 – Pristiphora bohemica sp. nov.: a – female (dorsal view); b – male (dorsal view); c – female (lateral view); 2 – P. angulata Lindqvist, 1974, female: a – dorsal view; b – lateral view. Scale: 5 mm.

Figs. 3–4. Female and male genitalia. 3 – Pristiphora bohemica sp. nov.; 4 – P. angulata Lindqvist, 1974. a, b – ovipositor sheath in dorsal view (on white and black background, respectively); c – ovipositor sheath (lateral view), d – extracted ovipositor (lateral view); e – penis valva. Scale: 1 mm.

Fig. 5. Pristiphora bohemica sp. nov., larva: a – lateroventral view; b – dorsolateral view. Scale: 5 mm.