Pachyprotasis

Taxonomy

Family: Tenthredinidae
Family common name: common sawflies
Subfamily: Tenthredininae
Tribe: Macrophyini
Genus: Pachyprotasis Hartig, 1837
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 compared to others 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.).

Pachyprotasis is monotypicmonotypic:
describes having only one representative; ex. a genus that includes only one species
in North America. Pachyprotasis rapae is about 7–10 mm in length and black and white with angled facial features (Gibson 1980bGibson 1980b:
Gibson GAP. 1980b. A revision of the genus Macrophya Dahlbom (Hymenoptera: Symphyta, Tenthredinidae) of North America. Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada 114: 1-167., BugGuide 2019BugGuide 2019:
BugGuide. Accessed January 2019. https://bugguide.net).

Diversity

There are 210 described extantextant:
in existence; opposite of extinct
species worldwide. One species occurs 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.).

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
  (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.)
• compound eye relatively small; face between eyes visible in laterallateral:
  of or towards the side of the body
  view (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.)
• first flagellomereflagellomere:
  A segment of the flagellum of the antenna
  about equal to length of second flagellomereflagellomere:
  A segment of the flagellum of the antenna
  (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 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 (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
  distinctly angled on lower posterior corner (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.)
• hind tibial spurspur:
  spine, usually on a leg segment
  longer than maximum width of hind tibiatibia:
  the fourth segment of the leg, between the femur and the tarsus
  (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.)

May be confused with

Pachyprotasis 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
. Pachyprotasis can be distinguished from closely related Macrophya by the longer fusion of anal veins and by the size of the eye as viewed form the side (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.).

Exotic pest species of concern

none

Host associations

Pachyprotasis rapae feeds on Scrophularia (figwort), Solidago (goldenrod), Betonica (hedgenettle), Fraxinus (ash), and Anthirrhinum (snapdragons) (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.).

Life history

unknown

Distribution

World: The genus is present in North America and is common and species-rich in East Asia (Smith 2003bSmith 2003b:
Smith DR. 2003b. A Synopsis of the sawflies (Hymenoptera: Symphyta) of America south of the United States: Tenthredinidae (Nematinae, Heterarthrinae, Tenthredininae). Transactions of the American Entomological Society 129 (1): 1-45., 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: Pachyprotasis rapae occurs throughout Canada and the United States and in Chihuahua, Mexico (Smith 2003bSmith 2003b:
Smith DR. 2003b. A Synopsis of the sawflies (Hymenoptera: Symphyta) of America south of the United States: Tenthredinidae (Nematinae, Heterarthrinae, Tenthredininae). Transactions of the American Entomological Society 129 (1): 1-45.).

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

Details about data used for maps can be found here.