Deda

Taxonomy

Family: Tenthredinidae
Family common name: common sawflies
Subfamily: Tenthredininae
Tribe: none
Genus: Deda Gibson, 1980
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 antennaeantenna:
the sensory organ emerging from the front of the head, usually between the compound eyes and above the clypeus; includes the flagellum, scape and pedicel
. Otherwise, they come in a variety of colors, sizes, and forms (Goulet 1992Goulet 1992:
Goulet H. 1992. The genera and subgenera of the sawflies of Canada and Alaska: Hymenoptera. Symphyta. The insects and arachnids of Canada. Part 20. Agriculture Canada Publication.).

Sawflies in the Tenthredininae subfamily are relatively large in the family, often with distinct colorful markings. Some are wasp-like with black and yellow stripes (Goulet 1992Goulet 1992:
Goulet H. 1992. The genera and subgenera of the sawflies of Canada and Alaska: Hymenoptera. Symphyta. The insects and arachnids of Canada. Part 20. Agriculture Canada Publication.). Many species’ life histories are not known. Some Tenthredininae species feed uniquely, as adults, on flower pollen and other insects (Smith 1993Smith 1993:
Smith DR. 1993. Systematics, life history, and distribution of sawflies. Pp. 3-32. In: Wagner MR and Raffa KF, eds. Sawfly Life History Adaptations to Woody Plants. University of Minnesota Academic Press. 581 pp.). They can be distinguished from other subfamilies by wing venationvenation:
the network of veins on a wing
(Goulet 1992Goulet 1992:
Goulet H. 1992. The genera and subgenera of the sawflies of Canada and Alaska: Hymenoptera. Symphyta. The insects and arachnids of Canada. Part 20. Agriculture Canada Publication.).

Deda is a North American genus of few species, mostly black and white in color, about 6–10 mm in length (Gibson 1980aGibson 1980a:
Gibson GAP. 1980a. Deda , a new genus of sawflies from western North America (Hymenoptera: Symphyta, Tenthredinidae). The Canadian Entomologist 112 (3): 249-258.).

Diversity

There are three described extantextant:
in existence; opposite of extinct
species worldwide. All are restricted to North America (Taeger et al. 2010Taeger et al. 2010:
Taeger A, Blank SM, and Liston AD. 2010. World Catalog of Symphyta (Hymenoptera). Zootaxa 2580: 1-1064.).

A key to species is included in Gibson 1980aGibson 1980a:
Gibson GAP. 1980a. Deda , a new genus of sawflies from western North America (Hymenoptera: Symphyta, Tenthredinidae). The Canadian Entomologist 112 (3): 249-258..

Diagnostic characteristics

Subfamily characters

• fore wing fore wing:
  the anterior wing of each pair of wings; usually the largest wing of the pair
  vein M and 1m-cu parallel (Goulet 1992Goulet 1992:
  Goulet H. 1992. The genera and subgenera of the sawflies of Canada and Alaska: Hymenoptera. Symphyta. The insects and arachnids of Canada. Part 20. Agriculture Canada Publication.)
• fore wing fore wing:
  the anterior wing of each pair of wings; usually the largest wing of the pair
  vein R bent at basebase:
  the beginning or most proximal area of any structure
  of veinvein:
  a tube-like, often darkened, structure on the wings
  Sc (Goulet 1992Goulet 1992:
  Goulet H. 1992. The genera and subgenera of the sawflies of Canada and Alaska: Hymenoptera. Symphyta. The insects and arachnids of Canada. Part 20. Agriculture Canada Publication.)
• metepimeron metepimeron:
  the dorsal portion of the metapleuron
  separated from metepisternummetepisternum:
  the ventral portion of the metapleuron
  by distinct furrowfurrow:
  a groove or linear depression
  (Goulet 1992Goulet 1992:
  Goulet H. 1992. The genera and subgenera of the sawflies of Canada and Alaska: Hymenoptera. Symphyta. The insects and arachnids of Canada. Part 20. Agriculture Canada Publication.)

Genus characters

• labrum labrum:
  a sclerotized structure on the front of the head between the clypeus and mandibles
  longer than medial length of the clypeusclypeus:
  sclerotized area on the front of the head located between the antennal insertions and labrum
  (Gibson 1980aGibson 1980a:
  Gibson GAP. 1980a. Deda , a new genus of sawflies from western North America (Hymenoptera: Symphyta, Tenthredinidae). The Canadian Entomologist 112 (3): 249-258.)
• compound eye relatively small; face between eyes visible in laterallateral:
  of or towards the side of the body
  view (Gibson 1980aGibson 1980a:
  Gibson GAP. 1980a. Deda , a new genus of sawflies from western North America (Hymenoptera: Symphyta, Tenthredinidae). The Canadian Entomologist 112 (3): 249-258.)
• occipital ridge present from mandiblemandible:
  the primary mouthpart used for biting and chewing; jaw
  to top of compound eye (Gibson 1980aGibson 1980a:
  Gibson GAP. 1980a. Deda , a new genus of sawflies from western North America (Hymenoptera: Symphyta, Tenthredinidae). The Canadian Entomologist 112 (3): 249-258.)
• fore wing fore wing:
  the anterior wing of each pair of wings; usually the largest wing of the pair
  vein 2A+3A complete, connected to 1A by crossveincrossvein:
  short section of wing vein that connects two larger veins
  (Goulet 1992Goulet 1992:
  Goulet H. 1992. The genera and subgenera of the sawflies of Canada and Alaska: Hymenoptera. Symphyta. The insects and arachnids of Canada. Part 20. Agriculture Canada Publication.)
• fore wing fore wing:
  the anterior wing of each pair of wings; usually the largest wing of the pair
  anal crossveinanal crossvein:
  a crossvein that goes through the center of the basal anal cell
  short and close to perpendicular (Goulet 1992Goulet 1992:
  Goulet H. 1992. The genera and subgenera of the sawflies of Canada and Alaska: Hymenoptera. Symphyta. The insects and arachnids of Canada. Part 20. Agriculture Canada Publication.)
• fore wing fore wing:
  the anterior wing of each pair of wings; usually the largest wing of the pair
  vein 2r present (Goulet 1992Goulet 1992:
  Goulet H. 1992. The genera and subgenera of the sawflies of Canada and Alaska: Hymenoptera. Symphyta. The insects and arachnids of Canada. Part 20. Agriculture Canada Publication.)
• fore wing fore wing:
  the anterior wing of each pair of wings; usually the largest wing of the pair
  vein M intersecting Sc+R basalbasal:
  towards the base; closest to the body
  to the intersection of Sc+R and Rs+M (Goulet 1992Goulet 1992:
  Goulet H. 1992. The genera and subgenera of the sawflies of Canada and Alaska: Hymenoptera. Symphyta. The insects and arachnids of Canada. Part 20. Agriculture Canada Publication.)
• angle of fore wingfore wing:
  the anterior wing of each pair of wings; usually the largest wing of the pair
  veins 1m-cu and Cu1 120°–150° (Goulet 1992Goulet 1992:
  Goulet H. 1992. The genera and subgenera of the sawflies of Canada and Alaska: Hymenoptera. Symphyta. The insects and arachnids of Canada. Part 20. Agriculture Canada Publication.)
• fore wing fore wing:
  the anterior wing of each pair of wings; usually the largest wing of the pair
  anal crossveinanal crossvein:
  a crossvein that goes through the center of the basal anal cell
  located in central portion of the anal cellanal cell:
  cell A of either the fore wing or hind wing
  ; anal veins appearing fused for a short distance (Gibson 1980aGibson 1980a:
  Gibson GAP. 1980a. Deda , a new genus of sawflies from western North America (Hymenoptera: Symphyta, Tenthredinidae). The Canadian Entomologist 112 (3): 249-258.)
• metepimeron metepimeron:
  the dorsal portion of the metapleuron
  distinctly angled on lower posterior corner (Gibson 1980aGibson 1980a:
  Gibson GAP. 1980a. Deda , a new genus of sawflies from western North America (Hymenoptera: Symphyta, Tenthredinidae). The Canadian Entomologist 112 (3): 249-258.)
• hind tibiatibia:
  the fourth segment of the leg, between the femur and the tarsus
  about as long or slightly longer than the femurfemur:
  the third segment of the leg between the trochanter and the tibia
  and trochantertrochanter:
  the second segment of the leg, between the coxa and femur
  (Gibson 1980aGibson 1980a:
  Gibson GAP. 1980a. Deda , a new genus of sawflies from western North America (Hymenoptera: Symphyta, Tenthredinidae). The Canadian Entomologist 112 (3): 249-258.)
• tarsal claw tarsal claw:
  sharpened appendage emerging from the apex of the tarsus
  bifidbifid:
  divided or forked into two branches or parts
  (Gibson 1980aGibson 1980a:
  Gibson GAP. 1980a. Deda , a new genus of sawflies from western North America (Hymenoptera: Symphyta, Tenthredinidae). The Canadian Entomologist 112 (3): 249-258.)
• hind basitarsusbasitarsus:
  the basal tarsomere; also known as tarsomere 1
  less than half as long as the hind tibiatibia:
  the fourth segment of the leg, between the femur and the tarsus
  and about equal to remaining tarsomeres (Gibson 1980aGibson 1980a:
  Gibson GAP. 1980a. Deda , a new genus of sawflies from western North America (Hymenoptera: Symphyta, Tenthredinidae). The Canadian Entomologist 112 (3): 249-258.)

May be confused with

Deda can be confused with similar species in the subfamily Tenthredininae. It can be distinguished from most other genera by the expanded metepimeronmetepimeron:
the dorsal portion of the metapleuron
, long labrumlabrum:
a sclerotized structure on the front of the head between the clypeus and mandibles
, and the centered anal crossveinanal crossvein:
a crossvein that goes through the center of the basal anal cell
. Deda can be distinguished from closely related Macrophya by the relative length of the hind leghind leg:
the third and posterior-most leg
segments and by the size of the eye as viewed from the side (Gibson 1980aGibson 1980a:
Gibson GAP. 1980a. Deda , a new genus of sawflies from western North America (Hymenoptera: Symphyta, Tenthredinidae). The Canadian Entomologist 112 (3): 249-258.).

Exotic pest species of concern

none

Host associations

The hosts of Deda are unknown, but there is a single collection of an adult on Cynopterus terebinthinus (turpentine wavewing) (Gibson 1980aGibson 1980a:
Gibson GAP. 1980a. Deda , a new genus of sawflies from western North America (Hymenoptera: Symphyta, Tenthredinidae). The Canadian Entomologist 112 (3): 249-258.).

Life history

unknown

Distribution

World: The genus is present in North America (Taeger et al. 2010Taeger et al. 2010:
Taeger A, Blank SM, and Liston AD. 2010. World Catalog of Symphyta (Hymenoptera). Zootaxa 2580: 1-1064.).

North America: Deda occurs in western United States, with records from California, Oregon, and Nevada (Gibson 1980aGibson 1980a:
Gibson GAP. 1980a. Deda , a new genus of sawflies from western North America (Hymenoptera: Symphyta, Tenthredinidae). The Canadian Entomologist 112 (3): 249-258.).

Map data from: GBIF.org (29 October 2019) GBIF Occurrence Download Deda and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Entomology Collection (USNM) and the Oregon State Arthropod Collection (OSAC)

Details about data used for maps can be found here.