Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Tenthredinidae

† Periclista cretica (Schedl, 1981)

Material.

Crete; 3♀♀, 32♂♂, Krasi, 27-28.iii.2013. 3♂♂, Livadia, 29.iii.2013. 2 larvae (Fig. 13) beaten from Quercus coccifera, Drakona 2, 22.iv.2013 (determined by barcode congruence of one larva with 2 adults).1♀, Askifou, 23.iv.2013. All specimens swept from, or netted near, upper branches of Quercus coccifera (plants 3-5 m tall).

The buds of the bushes and small trees of Quercus coccifera from which these were collected were swollen, but had not burst. Males were obtained mostly by netting them as they flew around the twigs in the upper crowns (at Krasi reached by standing on the many large boulders), and less so by sweeping around all accessible lower parts of the oaks. Sweeping yielded the only few females that we were able to obtain. The identification of the larvae allows us to state that Quercus coccifera is the host plant. Periclista cretica was previously only known from the female holotype and a single male paratype (Schedl 1981), both of which we examined.

The taxonomy of this species will be dealt with in detail in a revision of West Palaearctic Periclista (A. Mol, in preparation).