Ardis

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Taxonomy

Family: Tenthredinidae
Family common name: common sawflies
Subfamily: Blennocampinae
Tribe: Blennocampini
Genus: Ardis Konow, 1886
Subgenera: none

Background

The Tenthredinidae are the most species-rich family and are found throughout the world, in all continents but Antarctica. They are known as the “common sawflies.” They can generally be recognized by a cylindrical body and long, segmented antennae. Otherwise, they come in a variety of colors, sizes, and forms (Goulet 1992).

Sawflies in the subfamily Blennocampinae have a diverse set of life histories and habits. Many species are restricted to subtropical and tropical regions, but the genus is still fairly species-rich in North America. Blennocampinae includes many sawflies that feed on ornamental and forestry crops. This subfamily can be recognized by wing venation and bidentate mandibles (Smith 1969d).

Ardis is medium-sized, about 6.4–7 mm in length, and entirely black with transparent wings (Smith 1969d).

Diversity

There are five described extant species worldwide. Two species occur in North America (Taeger et al. 2010).

A key to Nearctic species is included in Smith 1969d.

Diagnostic characteristics

Subfamily characters

• angle of intersection of fore wing veins Cu1 and 1m-cu between 120°–150° (Goulet 1992)
• fore wing veins M and 1m-cu parallel (Smith 1969d)
• fore wing veins 2A and 3A incomplete (Smith 1969d)

Genus characters

• pedicel as long as wide (Smith 1969d)
• third antennal segment length markedly longer than fourth segment (Goulet 1992)
• postocular furrow wide and with large pits (Goulet 1992)
• intersection of M and Rs+M meeting or slightly basal to intersection of Rs+M and Sc+R (Smith 1969d)
• fore wing veins 2A and 3A curved at apex (Smith 1969d)
• hind wing cell M present (Smith 1969d)
• prepectus absent (Smith 1969d)
• tarsal claw with long inner tooth (Goulet 1992)
• tarsal claw basal lobe present (Smith 1969d)
• pulvilli on the first and second tarsomeres well developed (Goulet 1992)

May be confused with

Ardis can be confused with similar species in the subfamily Blennocampinae. It can be distinguished from most other genera by the deep postocular furrow and curved apex of fore wing veins 2A and 3A (Smith 1969d).

Exotic pest species of concern

none

Host associations

In North America, Ardis feed on species of Rosa (rose) (Goulet 1992).

Life history

The specific biology of Ardis atrata is unknown.

Ardis brunniventris is known as the rose tip sawfly and is considered a minor pest of wild and ornamental roses. The larvae burrow into stems of rose plants and feed on the pith. The affected part of the plant will wither, and the bud will not bloom (Gutue and Ungureanu 2015). The larva has reduced prolegs (Smith 1969d).

Distribution

World: This genus is known from North America, Europe into Turkey, India, and Pakistan (Smith 1971d, Saini and Vasu 1997, Çalmaşur 2019).

North America: Ardis atrata occurs in the Pacific Northwest region, with records in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon, and south into California. Ardis brunniventris is possibly an introduced species, and is now found throughout most of the United States and southern Canada (Smith 1969d).

Map data from: GBIF.org (29 October 2019) GBIF Occurrence Download Ardis

Details about data used for maps can be found here.