Empria archangelskii Dovnar-Zapolskij, 1929

Liston, Andrew D., Jacobs, Hans-Joachim & Prous, Marko, 2015, The Sawflies of Crete (Hymenoptera, Symphyta), Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 62 (1), pp. 65-79 : 65

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Tenthredinidae

* Empria archangelskii Dovnar-Zapolskij, 1929

Material.

Crete; 1♀ "Ajos Joánnis Ep. Ajos Wássilis” 21.iii.1925, leg. A. Schulz, Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin. 1♀, Agios Nicolaos, Almyros (Lasithi), 11.iv.1976, leg. Matti Viitasaari, Viitasaari Collection, Helsinki. 1♀, Mesa Potami, 28.iii.2013, swept from Crataegus monogyna . 1♀, Anogeia, 29.iii.2013, swept from flowering Acer sempervirens . 1♀, 1♂, Katharo Plateau, Kopraki, 30.iii.2013, swept from low vegetation on riverbank. 1♀, Agia Irini, 26.iv.2013, swept from low vegetation on a dry slope.

Based on the serrulae of the lancet, Prous (2012) treated the Cretan specimens preliminarily as a different species (sp4) from Empria archangelskii . Serrulae in Cretan specimens are narrower and more protruding (Fig. 5) than in mainland specimens (Fig. 6). Although the three studied lancets of Cretan females are very similar to each other and slightly different from the two specimens studied from the mainland (one from Crimea, and the syntype of Empria archangelskii from Tuapse, Krasnodar Krai, Russia), the penis valves of males appear to be indistinguishable (Figs 9-10). Because no consistent external differences were detected between the specimens from Crete and elsewhere, and a normal variability of lancets cannot be excluded, we consider them conspecific. Selandria labialis Brullé, 1832, currently treated as a synonym of Empria immersa (Klug, 1818) ( Taeger et al. 2010), was described from Methoni [Plaine de Modon], Messenia, Peloponnese, an area with habitats probably similar to those in Crete. The description of Selandria labialis can be interpreted as referring to Empria immersa or Empria archangelskii , although "Chaperon très-peu échancré” [clypeus very slightly emarginate] fits better with the former. Neither of these species has otherwise been recorded from mainland Greece. The Cretan Empria archangelskii are the first recorded from Greece and are the most westerly records of the species, which is otherwise known from the North coast of the Black Sea (Russia, Ukraine), Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon and Syria ( Prous 2012).

The closest species to Empria archangelskii is Empria excisa (Thomson, 1871). Empria archangelskii can be easily distinguished by the red-yellow pale colour of its legs, with femora mainly pale (black and whitish in Empria excisa , with femora mainly black). There appear also to be slight differences between lancets and penis valves: serrulae are more protruding in Empria archangelskii (Figs 5-6) than in Empria excisa (Figs 7-8) and valviceps of penis valves might be slightly narrower and differently shaped in Empria archangelskii (Figs 9-10) than in Empria excisa (Figs 11-12).

The hostplant(s) of Empria archangelskii are unknown. However, the larvae of Empria species which are morphologically and genetically closest to Empria archangelskii all feed on non-woody Rosaceae . The plants from which the specimens were collected and were growing near the collecting sites did not offer clues as to the identity of a possible host. The only Rosaceae obviously present at all Cretan collecting sites was Crataegus monogyna , but presumably the widespread Sanguisorba minor , Sarcopoterium spinosum and Rubus sanctus were also present somewhere not too distant.