Undescribed Sawfly
S1, Female, Wing Venation
Zebra Sawfly
Profile
| Undescribed Sawfly S1, Female, Wing Venation | | Zebra Sawfly Profile | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | |||
| Order: | Ant Bee Wasps (Hymenoptera) | ||||
| Family: | Sawfly (Sawfly: Pergidae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Undescribed Sawfly (Clarissa sp) | ||||
| This Photo: | 🔍S1, Female, ventral🔎 | ||||
Thank you Dr Paul Whitington for identifying and James Peake (JimBobo) for confirming the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere 1st Recognised Record in SA on Atlas, of this Genus: ~5.5mm long. Males are smaller and often totally black. At first, it looked like a beetle. Closer inspection revealed a sawfly (a hymenopteran with no waist). It looked quite similar to an Antargidium sp (in the family Argidae) which have been recorded nearby. However, I noted the antennae were very low on the face with our example, compared to Antargidium. Further, Paul said "All flagellar segments of the antenna of Argidae are fused into one." So not Argidae. Paul then delved into descriptions of Pergidae family sawflies and came to the conclusion it was an undescribed species in the Clarissa genus. Commenting "It fits the description of that genus in Morice 1918 pretty well. Morice shows a micrograph of the wings of a species Clarissa divergens (Pl. XI, fig. 11) and the venation is a very close match to yours. I doubt that it is that particular species - even though his key of the 4 species he examined leads to that - as he states that it hails from North Queensland." Paul then reproduced the "original description of the genus Clarissa, for us, in Kirby 1894 - Antenna twelve-jointed, thick, subclavate, first and second joints globose; third more slender, nearly twice as long as the first and second together; fourth rather longer than these, and thickened to its extremity; fifth rather shorter than the fourth, thickened at its extremity; the sixth shorter and less thickened; the remainder of nearly uniform thickness, a little longer than wide; the last two joints hardly separated. And of Clarissa divergens - Width expanded wings 14 millim.; body length. 7 millim. Female.-- Rufo-testaceous; head, antenna, hinder part of pectus, extremity of abdomen, four hind femora, tips of tibia, middle tarsi above, and hind tarsi wholly black. Wings iridescent hyaline, with blackish nerves." Paul kept digging "Key steps: front tibiae with 2 calcaria; middle and hind tibiae with no spines other than those 2 apical calcaria; lanceolate cell present; radial cell undivided, lanceolate cell petiolate; antennae without pectinations, nearly simple; insertions of antennae situated considerably above base of clypeus, nearly in middle of face; fore wing with apex of the radial cell acuminate and close to the margin of the wing, with at most a narrow linear space but no real appendicular cell, separating it from the margin; legs and also antennae somewhat shorter and stouter than in Neoeurys. The tarsi seem never to be longer than the tibiae, in most cases they are evidently shorter. The general coloration of the four species seen by me is not metallic, but testaceous and black." "I've looked through keys and descriptions of all 13 Clarissa spp. listed on AFD and none of them fit exactly. C. divergens is a close, but not perfect fit and given that it is a tropical species, I think we can exclude that one." Paul also labelled the images for us to help recognise terms in descriptions. | |||||
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