Amauronematus mcluckieae BENSON , 1935

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 : 32-33

Amauronematus mcluckieae BENSON, 1935

Meall nan Tarmachan, NN 5838, green larvae on Salix reticulata , 13.vii.1996 [6245], 1 ♂ reared, leg. Bland, det. Liston ( RSME) .

Benson (1935) dedicated the species name mcluckiei [sic!] to his wife (Joyce Elinor Benson, née McLuckie). The incorrect original spelling of the species name is here corrected according to Article 31.1.2 ( ICZN 1999).

Salix herbacea has generally been considered to be the normal host of Amauronematus mcluckieae since Benson (1935) first suggested this association. We have not however found a published record of a rearing from this host. In the British Isles, A. mcluckieae is still only known from Highland sites in Perthshire and Inverness ( Benson 1958; as A. arcticola [misidentification]), but seems likely to occur at least also in the Northern Highlands. It is most frequently collected on summit vegetation where the only willow species present is S. herbacea , so this association seems likely to be correct. Nevertheless, the above record shows that S. reticulata may also sometimes be a host. Larvae of no other sawfly species have yet been observed to feed on S. reticulata in Scotland, although in Finland this willow supports a small but highly characteristic complement of apparently mostly monophagous sawfly species (V. Vikberg, pers. comm.).

† Amauronematus mimus SCHMIDT, 1997

At least two of the specimens were swept from Salix aurita L.

Females of the A. histrio group (until recently often referred to also as the A. fallax group) in RSME, apart from correctly determined specimens of A. histrio (Serville, 1823) , include two specimens of an unidentified species from Ireland and two further A. mimus :

Ireland: Cavan; Drumcarban , 1 ♀, 2.v.[19]42, leg. R. C. Faris; Cauhoo, 1 ♀, 14.v.[19]42, 8 p. m., leg. R. C. Faris .

Identification of A. mimus and several other similar W. Palaearctic species remains difficult, because the only modern work on these by Schmidt (1997) deals mainly with the Fennoscandian fauna, and does not cover a number of species known from Central Europe (not all of which are even described). Nevertheless, whilst remembering that colour patterns (often of high diagnostic value) may be somewhat different in individuals from regions outside Fennoscandia, specimens can in some cases be reliably identified using the key and illustrations in Schmidt (1997). His data on recorded hostplants (mostly Salix species , but a few species on Betula and Vaccinium ) allow a further control of plausibility of identification. At present only females can be identified. Whenever possible, the saw should also be examined. The Scottish females ( Figs 1, 2) were compared and found to match very closely a German female (SDEI) of A. mimus from Brandenburg, det. S. Schmidt. Compared with the illustrations in Schmidt (1997), the saw of one Scottish specimen examined by Heibo agrees best (and very closely) with the illustration for A. mimus .

A. mimus is otherwise known from Germany, Finland and Russia ( Taeger et al. 2006). Salix aurita is the only recorded hostplant, but note that at least two other species of this group ( A. histrio and A. hartigi Saarinen, 1950 ) use S. aurita as a host ( Schmidt 1997).

Material of this species group from the British Isles requires re-examination (ideally together with fresh specimens collected from identified Salix species ), to establish how many species occur and obtain an indication of their host ranges. At present, only A. histrio and A. mimus are known from Britain and Ireland. The few British specimens so-far re-examined, previously identified as A. fallax (Lepeletier, 1823) or A. stenogaster (Förster, 1854) , are A. mimus and an unidentified species somewhat resembling A. mimus that is not A. stenogaster s. str. as redescribed by Schmidt (1997) (under the name A. fallax ). A. stenogaster is monophagous on Salix repens L. according to recent literature (but in Germany also occurs on S. rosmarinifolia ; Liston unpublished). For the present, pending re-examination of further museum material and special searches of its host, A. stenogaster should be deleted from the list of British Isles sawflies.