SAWFLY (HYMENOPTERA: SYMPHYTA) RECORDING EST WILTSHIRE 1947-2000 



115 



was found in 1 999 and 2000 in a number of marshy 

 sites in the north of the county. It has not been 

 established whether these were migrants from the 

 continent or a local indigenous population. Two rare 

 Dolerus sawflies were found at Jones's Mill in 2000, 

 D.bimaculatus and D.megapterus, both species with 

 only a handful of other British records, mainly from 

 further north. Another species which is rated 

 nationally as pRDB3 is the spectacular stem-sawfly 

 Hartigia xanthostoma. This has been found at a 

 number of sites in Wiltshire where the larval host 

 plant Filipendula ulmaria (Meadowsweet) is 

 prolific. I have begun to expect this species to turn 

 up at such sites and it is possibly not as rare as its 

 national status suggests. One of the commonest 

 species which can be found in any damp situation 

 is Selandria serva and it is strange that it was not 

 recorded in the first period. Perhaps it was much 

 scarcer in Wiltshire at that time. Further work in 

 the future, both in the field and on the pre- 1947 

 Marlborough records, will help, I hope, not only to 

 solve this problem but also to enable the much wider 

 assessment which these fascinating insects so clearly 

 deserve. 



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 



I wish to thank Dr David A. Sheppard for his advice 

 on all matters sawfly, for leading a sawfly workshop 

 in Wiltshire and for reading a draft of this article. 

 Most of the more difficult determinations of the 

 recent Wiltshire records have been carried out by 

 Andrew J. Halstead, Senior Entomologist, Royal 

 Horticultural Society, Wisley. I am most grateful to 

 David and Andrew for their enthusiastic support 

 and guidance while I have been on my learning 

 curve. Thanks also to the growing band of people 

 who have submitted records to me. Finally, much 

 of the descriptive material has been taken from 

 Wright, A., 1990. 



Bibliography 



EDMUNDS, H.A. & SPRINGATE, N.D., 1998. Cimbex 

 connatus (Schrank) (Hymenoptera: Cimbicidae): a 

 rare Species in the British Isles, British Journal of 

 Entomology and Natural History, 10, 65-67. 



WRIGHT, A., 1990. British Sawflies (Hymenoptera: 

 Symphyta) A key to adults of the genera occurring 

 in Britain. Reprinted from Field Studies : 7, 531- 

 593. Aidgap, Field Studies Council. 



