Microdiprion pallipes (FALLÉN, 1808)

Liston, A. D., Knight, G. T., Heibo, E., Bland, K. P., Barstad, Trond Elling, Blank, S. M., Boeve, J. - L., Fiedler, K., Grearson, K. J., Halstead, A., Jacobs, H. - J., Jansen, E., Lonnve, O., Prous, M., Robinson, J. & Taeger, A., 2012, On Scottish sawflies, with results of the 14 International Sawfly Workshop, in the southern Highlands, 2010 (Hymenoptera, Symphyta), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 62, pp. 1-68 : 40

Microdiprion pallipes (FALLÉN, 1808)

Beinn Eighe NNR, NH0064 , Wester Ross, native pinewood, 1 ♀, 11.v.-13.vi.1988, Malaise trap, leg. I. MacGowan ( RSME) .

Both the above individuals (see also Table 1) are extremely pale. The lateral parts of the abdominal terga and most of the sterna are bright yellow. In the field, the Claybokie specimen was initially mistaken because of its pale colouration for Monoctenus juniperi (Linnaeus, 1758) . However, the female of M. juniperi has at most a band of orange-brown along the lateral margins of the terga.

Benson (1959) referred Scottish populations of M. pallipes to ssp. pallipes , found also from northern Fennoscandia south to around Berlin in Germany ( Forsslund 1960). The nominate subspecies was considered to be replaced by M. pallipes ssp. politum (Klug, 1812) , adults of which are much darker, in Alpine and pre-Alpine Europe. Mallach (1973) discussed some of the problems attached to the distinction of these putative subspecies. The description by Enslin (1917) of variability in colouration in Lophyrus (M.) pallipes still seems very fitting.