Allantus enslini Forsius, 1918

Liston, Andrew, 2023, Taxonomy, distribution and host plants of some southern European and North African Sawflies (Hymenoptera, Symphyta), Contributions to Entomology 73 (1), pp. 9-30 : 9

Allantus enslini Forsius, 1918

Allantus enslini Forsius, 1918: 6-7. Holotype ♀ (Zoological Museum, University of Turku: examined). Type locality: Algeria, Birmandreis [Bir Mourad Raïs]. Lacourt 1989: 299-300; description of male, records from Morocco, adult association with Salix species.

Other material examined.

Italy: 1♀, Sicily ( Liston et al. 2013) (private collection of G.F. Turrisi, Catania) .

Morocco: 2♂, Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz Region, Ourika 5 km SE, 970 m, 31.333°N, 7.757°W, 19.03.2014, A. Liston & M. Prous leg. (SDEI) . 1♀ (DEI-GISHym84750), 2♂ (DEI-GISHym20765), same data as previous, but 30.03.2014 (SDEI). All these specimens were swept from Salix species .

Portugal: 1♂ (DEI-GISHym84746), Coimbra, Seixo de Beira 7 km S, 360 m, 40.392°N, 7.843°W, 06.05.2012, Blank, Jacobs, Liston & Taeger leg. (SDEI) . 1♂ (DEI-GISHym21183), Aveiro, Castelo de Paiva 7 km SSW, 260 m, 41.000°N, 8.278°W, 14.05.2012, Blank, Jacobs, Liston & Taeger leg. (SDEI) .

Spain: 1♀ (DEI-GISHym 84745), Girona (GIR), Port della Selva, Vall Sta. Creu , Garrigue , 42.335°N, 3.165°E, 18.06.1993, Y. Gonseth leg. (SDEI) . 1♀ (DEI-GISHym31066), Valencia (VAL), Parque Natural de la Sierra Calderona, Serra 1 km N, 400 m, 39.696°N, 0.422°W, 01.05.2014, swept from Salix purpurea , Liston, Prous & Taeger leg. (Asian Sawfly Museum, Nanjing) . 1♀ (DEI-GISHym31082), data as preceding (SDEI) . 1♂, data as preceding, but H.-J. Jacobs leg. (Coll. Jacobs, Ranzin) . 1♂ (DEI-GISHym31084), Valencia (VAL), Parque Natural Chera-Sot de Chera, Sot de Chera , 500 m, 39.621°N, 0.907°W, 02.05.2014, Liston, Prous & Taeger leg. (SDEI) . 2♂, data as preceding, but H.-J. Jacobs leg. (Coll. Jacobs, Ranzin) . 1♂ (DEI-GISHym31083), Valencia (VAL), Parque Natural Serra d’Espadá, Almedijar 2.5 km E, 540 m, 39.875°N, 0.379°W, 06.05.2014, Liston, Prous & Taeger leg. (SDEI). Documentation by photos (det. A. Taeger) : 1♀, Barcelona (BAR), Abrera , 41.517°N, 1.859°E, 25.08.2019, photo Jaume Almirall, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/33654904 . 1♀, Almería, 37.107°N, 3.024°W, 07.06.2016, photo faluke, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/67201786 . 1♀, Cataluña, 41.517°N, 1.859°W, 25.08.2019, photo Jaume Almirall, http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/33654904 . 1♀, Andalucía, 37.107°N, 3.025°W, 07.06.2016, photo faluke, http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/67201786 .

Notes.

Lacourt (2020a, b: 236, key couplet 2) wrote in the alternative which leads to A. enslini and A. calliblepharus "Head more or less marked with yellow, labrum yellow. Thorax black, more or less marked with yellow on the upper part of the mesopleura". Allantus enslini is then characterized: "Thorax with mesonotum entirely black. Fore wings with radial cell entirely smoky suffused. Antennae tri-coloured, the first two segments white, the following brown more or less marked with black, apical segments light brown". This is only partly correct. The antennae of A. enslini may be completely black, and the upper mesopleura are rarely pale-marked, except for the postspiracular sclerite.

The Sicilian specimen (female) is by far the palest of those examined. Pale are the labrum, most of clypeus, lower inner orbit, a broad stripe on outer orbit, hind margin of head including flecks on postocellar area, edges of pronotum, and upper half of mesepisternum. Antennomeres 1 and 2 are whitish, with the flagellum shading from darker to paler brown towards the apex. The darkest specimens are some of those from the Iberian Peninsula. The female DEI-GISHym84745 has, for example, antennomere 1 pale only on the inner side, and antennomere 2 completely dark, clypeus and pronotum entirely dark, and the other pale markings on head much smaller than the Sicilian specimen. Some of the Iberian males, such as DEI-GISHym21183, are even darker, with nearly completely black antennae (Fig. 7K ). This is also the only examined specimen of A. enslini with completely black inner lower orbits. The Moroccan specimens are intermediate in colour pattern to the Sicilian specimen and those from Iberia. However, in all the Moroccan specimens antennomeres 1 and 2 are completely pale, and the flagellum basally at least partly black and apically more or less brown (Fig. 7J ). In effect, colour pattern of the head will not always distinguish A. enslini from A. togatus (see also below). The Sicilian specimen of A. enslini is the only one of those examined which has any part of the mesopleura pale. However, the postspiracular sclerite of all specimens is pale: usually entirely so, but narrowly dark along anterior edge in DEI-GISHym21183. The upper mesepisternum of A. enslini is usually a little shinier than in A. togatus and A. calliblepharus , but the pattern of punctation varies considerably in A. enslini from almost contiguous with narrow interspaces, to diffuse with interspaces mostly about 0.5-1.0 × as long as the diameter of a puncture.

Yang et al. (2021) compared the mitochondrial genomes of a German specimen of A. togatus with a specimen from Spain (DEI-GISHym31066), found significant differences between these, and concluded that the latter represents an unrecognized "cryptic species". In my opinion, DEI-GISHym31066 is A. enslini .

In view of the previous mixing-up of A. enslini and A. togatus , the distribution of each requires further study, particularly in southern Europe. The female specimen from Sardinia illustrated by Cillo et al. (2018) as Allantus togatus , for example, is A. enslini , based on the colour of its antennae and abdomen. Apart from the single specimens of A. enslini recorded from Sicily and Sardinia, the only other individual belonging to Allantus (Allantus) which I have seen from Italy (the mainland, Toscana), but only as a photograph, is apparently A. togatus . Although there are mentions of Allantus togatus from both Spain and Portugal ( Dusmet 1949; Llorente Vigil 1983), all specimens so far examined from the Iberian Peninsula are A. enslini .

My field observations of adult A. enslini , which were swept only from Salix species, support the statement by Lacourt (1989) that willows are the hosts of its larvae.

Figures

Figure 7. Allantus (Allantus) species. A-C. Head dorsal ♀; A. A. viennensis (DEI-GISHym 81400); B. A. enslini (Sicily, G. F. Turrisi leg.); C. A. enslini (DEI-GISHym 84750); D, E. Thorax lateral ♀, postspiracular sclerite arrowed; D. A. enslini (DEI-GISHym 84745); E. A. togatus (DEI-GISHym 118974); F-H. Complete dorsal ♀; F. A. enslini (DEI-GISHym 84745); G. A. togatus (DEI-GISHym 118974); H. A. calliblepharus (DEI-GISHym 84747); I-M. Antennae; I. A. viennensis ♀ (DEI-GISHym 81400); J. A. enslini ♀ (DEI-GISHym 84750); K. A. enslini ♂ (DEI-GISHym 21183); L. A. togatus ♀ (DEI-GISHym 118974); M. A. calliblepharus ♀ (DEI-GISHym 84747). Scale bars: 1 mm.