Euura bridgmanii ( Cameron, 1883 ), 2015

Liston, Andrew D., Heibo, Erik, Prous, Marko, Vårdal, Hege, Nyman, Tommi & Vikberg, Veli, 2017, North European gall-inducing Euura sawflies (Hymenoptera, Tenthredinidae, Nematinae), Zootaxa 4302 (1), pp. 1-115 : 83-84

Euura bridgmanii ( Cameron, 1883)

Nematus bridgmanii Cameron, 1883: 193 –194. Described: ♀, ♂, recorded host: sallow [ Salix caprea ]. Lectotype, ♀, designated by Benson (1940a), Castle Museum , Norwich [not examined]. Type locality: England, Norwich, Brundall. Pontania bridgmani [sic]: Konow (1890).

Pontania (Pontania) bridgmanii: Viitasaari & Vikberg (1985) .

Nematus (Pontania) bridgmanii: Zhelochovtsev (1988) .

Euura bridgmanii: Shinohara & Hara (2015) .

Pontania kirchneri Zirngiebl, 1959: 22 –26. Described: ♀, larva, gall, recorded host: Salix aurita . Holotype, ♀, ZSM [not examined]. Type locality: Germany, Birkenheide , Dürkheimer Bruch. Synonymy by Beneš (1968a).

Pontania obscura Kopelke 2005: 89 –90. Described: ♀, gall, recorded host: Salix foetida and S. waldsteiniana . Holotype, ♀, SMF [examined]. Type locality: Switzerland, Wallis, Obergoms , Binntal. Syn. nov.

Euura abdita Kopelke in Prous et al. 2014: 53 , replacement name for P. obscura Kopelke.

Pontania capreae (on S. caprea ): Wahlgren (1951), Andersson (1955); misidentification.

Notes on types and taxonomy. The slight but constant morphological differences to proxima and triandrae (arrangement of setae on valvula 3; colour of femora), coupled with different host associations, and a possible differentiation in COI sequences (but based on too few specimens), support the status of bridgmanii as a valid species. Note that the figure of the lancet of bridgmanii by Kopelke (2005: 89) is not accurate, in that annulus 1 is shown to be about as long as high (actually higher than long, as in proxima and triandrae ), and that no pores are indicated on the lower parts of the radix or basal ca. annuli 1–10 of the lamnium (pores are present in similar numbers, and similarly distributed in all three taxa). No morphological characters which will separate E. abdita from E. bridgmanii were found. Neither were genetic differences detected. Accordingly, we treat them as conspecific. Weiffenbach (1989) described a male specimen under the name bridgmanii . Unlike the scarcely emarginate clypeus of the specimen of proxima that we examined, he stated that the clypeus of bridgmanii was deeply emarginate, almost to its top.

Variability. Female: Body length: 2.6–3.8mm. Lateral vertex with obscure brown fleck, to black. Dorsoposterior angle of pronotum pale, to black. Male: not examined. Total number of specimens examined: 33.

Genetic data. COI barcode sequences are available for ten specimens from France, Austria, and Germany. Distance to the nearest neighbour, E. proxima , is approximately 1.1%.

Bionomics. Host plants: Salix aurita , S. caprea , S. cinerea , S. atrocinerea , S. appendiculata ( Kopelke 2005) , S. starkeana ( Nyman et al. 2006) , S. phylicifolia ( Benson 1958, Hjaltén et al. 2000), S. silesiaca ( Beneš 2015a) , and S. hastata (Zinovjev 1999) . Biology: Kopelke (2005), Zirngiebl (1959).

Distribution. Central and North Europe north to Troms ( Kopelke 2005), Transcaucasia ( Benson 1968). Occurrence in Sweden: published records; Skåne ( Wahlgren 1951), Blekinge ( Wahlgren 1953, as P. capreae on S. caprea ), Halland ( Andersson 1955), Uppland, Dalarna ( Wahlgren 1951), Västergötland ( Wahlgren 1962; Lundberg 1963, 1966), Jämtland ( Benander 1969), Lule Lappmark ( Julin 1936, as P. capreae on S. caprea ). Material examined: Skåne, Öland, Västmanland, Härjedalen, Västerbotten, Norrbotten.