Paracharactus

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Taxonomy

Family: Tenthredinidae
Family common name: common sawflies
Subfamily: Blennocampinae
Tribe: Phymatocerini
Genus: Paracharactus MacGillivray, 1908
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).

Paracharactus are medium-sized, about 6.5–7 mm in length, and mostly black with white or red thoracic markings and hyaline wings (Smith 1969d).

Diversity

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

A key to North American 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

• antennal segments slightly expanded at the apices; antenna appearing almost serrate (Smith 1969d)
• third antennal segment about as long as fourth (Goulet 1992)
• epicnemial area clearly outlined (Goulet 1992)
• fore wing veins 2A and 3A sometimes forked at apex (Goulet 1992)
• pits not present on mesoscutellum or mesepisternum (Goulet 1992)
• mesoscutellar appendage long, about one-quarter of the length of the mesoscutellum (Goulet 1992)
• pulvilli on the first and second tarsomeres well developed (Goulet 1992)
• length of pulvillus on first hind tarsomere more than two-thirds the length of the second hind tarsomere (Goulet 1992)
• tarsal claw basal lobe absent (Goulet 1992)
• tarsal claw simple or with short inner tooth (Smith 1969d)
• first tergite wide medially; membranous area posterior to first tergite small (Goulet 1992)

May be confused with

Paracharactus can be confused with similar species in the subfamily Blennocampinae. It can be distinguished from most other genera by the long, developed pulvilli on basal tarsomeres and the almost equal in length third and fourth antennal segments. Because of intra-species variation in external characters, Phymatocera and Paracharactus can only be positively distinguished by genitalia characteristics (Smith 1969d).

Exotic pest species of concern

none

Host associations

unknown

Life history

unknown

Distribution

World: This genus is known from North America, Central and Eastern Europe, and Japan (Taeger et al. 2018).

North America: Paracharactus has two ranges in North America. Paracharactus montivagus occurs in western states Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and California. The other two species, P. niger and P. rudis, are restricted to east of the Rocky Mountains and occur throughout the northern United States and southern Canada in the east (Smith 1969d).

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

Details about data used for maps can be found here.