D & JP Balmer
Biblio. consulted :- Benson - RES - Handbooks ... Symphyta ... Vol. VI 2(b) - 1952 - p.121/128
- Enslin - Die Tenthredinoidea Mitteleuropas - 1912/1918 - p.45/89
- Foerster (or
Förster) - "Einige neue Arten aus der Familie der Blattwespen" in Entomologische Zeitung (Herausgegeben von dem entomologischen Vereine zu Stettin) - 1844 -
[Allantus omissus p.289/290]- Lacourt - Répertoire des Tenthredinidae ... - Mém. SEF n° 3 - 1999
- Taeger - "Zur Systematik der Blattwespengattung Tenthredo (s.str.) L." - in Entomologische abhandlungen (Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde Dresden) - 1984 - band 48 - Heft 8 -
[T. omissa p.114/115 + 139/140]- Zhelokhovtsev - in Medvedev (Ed.). 1988. Keys to the insects of the European part of the USSR. III. Hymenoptera. Part 6 Symphyta , Translation in English : Edit. E.J. Brill 1994 - p.348/370
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The five French &
Italian species who are the subject of this message are:
Cephaledo meridiana Serville 1823 - Cephaledo (Maculedo in Lacourt) vespiformis Schrank 1781 - Tenthredella campestris L. 1758
Tenthredo scrophulariae L.1758 - Tenthredo omissa (Forster 1844).
I never captured C. meridiana (South of France, where I never drove out), nor T. omissa.
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The
Tenthredininae, having the black abdomen with yellow or white transverse bands, are frequent and quite visible in nature because they are rather large.
One often sees some on the Forums, and little are identified rigorously even sometimes by Entomologists "serious".
Indeed the conjunction "
color of the forewings + position of the clear bands on the abdomen" is generally the only observable criterion on the photos sent on these Forums, however this conjunction
can strongly vary for the same species, and
two different species can very well have the same conjunction !
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Some causes of misidentifying of these Tenthredininae :
-
C. meridiana &
C. (or M.) vespiformis should not be able to be confused with the three other species, because if they are of
Cephaledo, they should have the head widened behind the eyes ... What is not obvious since there is dissension on the belonging with this genus or with two different genera !
-
T. omissa, when descriptions or the keys of various Entomologists are read
(to see above Biblio.) ,
one has the impression that they did not describe the same species ..... The colors of the abdomens, clypeus, even of the labrums are
not always the same ones !-
T. scrophulariae &
T. omissa , can have the same habitus :
- The brown (+/- clear) band, in the radial zone of the forewing, which normally is characteristic of scrophulariae, can be also present on omissa.
- The tergite 3 is normally black on omissa, but at least partially yellow on scrophulariae ... However the scrophulariae ♀ (n° 2706 - see photo in Key) has her tergite 3 entirely black (there is absolutely no trace of yellow color) !
- Zhelokhovtsev (p.350-351) separate the 2 species by considering the lengths and widths of 7th & 8th antennal segments , that is not always checked !
-
C. vespiformis ♀ and
T. meridiana ♀ &
T. scrophulariae ♀, these two last species normally have them tergite 2 black, but this tergite can also have a yellow band (entire or not) , thus risks of confusion with
C. vespiformis ♀.
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Identification of the speciesIn the first place , It should be known if it is a
Tenthredininae !
Then I propose to you to use the below
key, which takes account of what I said previously.
