Small World Discoveries

HYMENOPTERA > SYMPHYTA > Tenthredinidae > Tenthredininae > Tenthredinini

A reasonably large (12-14mm) sawfly with a girdled yellow-banded abdomen and 'setiform' slender antennae that are not swollen at the tips. In the females, it's primarily the mid tergites S4 and S5 that are banded, but in the slimmer males the banding covers far more of the abdomen from much of S2 - S6. The pronotal margins are also yellow as is the pronotum. The wing stigma is dark and the costa yellow. The legs have mainly black femurs, yellow tibiae apart from the extreme tips, and yellow tarsi. In the males, the hind tibiae and tarsi are more extensively darkened than in the females.

Tenthredo maculata is most likely to be found in woodland where adults may be seen from May to July but, unlike its smaller relative Tenthredo temula, it isn't a regular flower visitor. The species has widespread, although scattered, distribution across much of England and Wales, becoming scarcer further north and in Scotland.