Image above courtesy of Kerry Stuart (iNaturalist observation) CC BY-NC

Workbook

Note: This is a “work in progress”. Changes may be made as I discover additional relevant information.

Identification of species in subfamily Sterictiphorinae

The matrices below are designed to aid identification of all Australian species in the 3 genera that comprise the Sterictiphorinae - Trichorhachus, Styphelarge and Schizocerella. The last genus is represented by one species, Schizocerella pilicornis, which was introduced to Australia from North/South America.

Trichorhachus, Styphelarge and Schizocerella share the following diagnostic features:

• antenna with 3 segments; scape and pedicel short; third segment long, bifurcated and ciliated in male, simple and bare in female

• fore wing with petiolate anal cell

• costa of fore wing strongly swollen so that at least basally it is broader than intercostal area

Trichorhachus and Styphelarge have a preapical spur on the hind tibia, which is absent in Schizocerella.

To view iNaturalist Research Grade observations of a particular species in the subfamily Sterictiphorinae, click on the name of that species in the list below. (Species without a link have no RG observations at this time).

Trichorhachus australis Trichorhachus hyalinus Trichorhachus nitidus Styphelarge abdominalis Schizocerella pilicornis

Trichorhachus australis = Trichorhachus sobrinus

Trichorhachus hyalinus

Trichorhachus nitidus

Styphelarge abdominalis

Schizocerella pilicornis

References:

• Benson, R.B. 1938. Sawflies of the Subfamily Trichorhachinæ (Argidæ) (Hymenoptera, Symphyta). Annals and Magazine of Natural History 2:8, 117-122.

• Benson, R.B. 1963. The affinities of the Australian Argidae (Hymenoptera). Annals and Magazine of Natural History 5:58, 631-635

• Kirby, W.F. 1882. List of Hymenoptera, with descriptions and figures of the typical specimens in the British Museum. Vol. I. Tenthredinidae and Siricidae. London: British Museum, xxviii

• Malagón-Aldana, L.A., Jensen, A., Smith, D.R., Shinohara, A. & Vilhelmsen, L. Sawflies out of Gondwana: phylogenetics and biogeography of Argidae (Hymenoptera). Systematic Entomology 47: 231-258.

• Morice, F.D. 1919. Notes on Australian sawflies, especially the “Authors' Types” and other specimens in the British Museum of Natural History and the Hope Collections of the Oxford University Museum; with diagnostic synopses of the genera and species, and photographs illustrating their structural characters. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 66: 247-333, pls XI-XV.

• Smith, D.R. 1971. Nearctic sawflies of the genera Neoptilia Ashmead, Schizocerella Forsius, Aprosthema Konow, and Sphacophilus Provancher (Hymenoptera: Argidae). Transactions of the American Entomological Society 97: 537-594

• Westwood, J.O. 1841. Descriptions of some exotic species of sawflies. Arcana Entomologica p.23

This is a workbook page … a part of our website where we record the observations and references used in making species identifications. The notes will not necessarily be complete. They are a record for our own use, but we are happy to share this information with others.