Heterarthrus fruticicolum Ermolenko, 1960

Liston, Andrew, Mutanen, Marko & Viitasaari, Matti, 2019, On the taxonomy of Heterarthrus (Hymenoptera, Tenthredinidae), with a review of the West Palaearctic species, Journal of Hymenoptera Research 72, pp. 83-126 : 96

Heterarthrus fruticicolum Ermolenko, 1960

Phyllotoma fruticicolum Ermolenko, 1957: 6-7, 9. Not available. Nomen nudum.

Phyllotoma fruticicolum Ermolenko, 1959: 122, 128. Not available. Nomen nudum.

Heterarthrus fruticicolum Ermolenko, 1960: 207-208. Holotype ♀, Schmalhausen Institute, Kiev (not examined). Type locality: Ukraine, Slavsky District, Khol’sk Pass.

Remarks.

The holotype was collected from Alnus alnobetula ssp. alnobetula (Ehrh.) K. Koch at subalpine levels in the Carpathians. Apart from the single type specimen, only Beneš (2013) has published a record of this taxon: also a single female, from the Giant Mountains (Czech Republic). Although compared in the original description only with H. ochropoda , the characters described for H. fruticicolum by Ermolenko much more closely resemble H. vagans . In fact, in the original description, the only difference seems to be the entirely black body of H. fruticicolum . Karel Beneš (personal communication to Liston by electronic mail, 2006) commented on the Czech specimen: "From Ermolenko´s description it is difficult to separate [ H. fruticicolum ] from dark forms of H. vagans . However, in H. fruticicolum the sheath viewed from above seems to be somewhat broader, slightly wider than hind metatarsus. Antennae are more slender and longer (in my specimen only 9 segments left), scape and pedicel black, apex ventrally piceous. Head width as antennomeres 3 to 8 combined. Segment 8 more than 2 × as long as wide, segment 6 more than 3 × as long as wide. Head pattern as in H. vagans , basal segments of maxillar palpi black, thorax including tegulae, and abdomen completely black, only hypopygium brownish. Legs with coxae, trochanters and femora black, only very narrow posterior margins paler; tibiae blackish dorsally, brownish ventrally, tarsi brown. Pterostigma narrower, nearly 3 × as long as wide. Saw seems to have more flat teeth (I saw only several apical teeth protruding from the sheath). This female is very similar to H. vagans , [and] maybe only a subalpine race". Two female specimens (SDEI) of H. vagans reared by E. Altenhofer from Alnus alnobetula ssp. alnobetula in subalpine Austria have an extensively pale abdomen, and do not otherwise differ from lowland H. vagans specimens reared from other Alnus species. The status of H. fruticicolum is in need of further study.