Lime Sawyer Pristiphora leucopus

This came to light. I used Wright to key it to genus and then attempted to get it to species using the RES key (Benson). Although I thought it looked like a female the saw wasn't evident externally on the dried-out specimen and so I decided to macerate the abdomen to make sure it was a female before proceeding to key it. That wasn't a bad idea, but removing the saw for a closer look was a bad idea as when I started keying it I realised I needed to see the sawsheath not the saw itself, and I'd badly damaged that in the process of removing the saw. Despite my best efforts to piece it back together it soon became clear that I wasn't going to be able to reach an ID using the RES key.

Before giving up I turned to Lacourt and fortunately there is less reliance on the sawsheath here, and more on the saw itself, and it keyed relatively smoothly to leucopus. In fact even if I hadn't messed up the sawsheath I wouldn't have managed to identify it using the RES key as it doesn't include leucopus (it was first recorded in the UK in 2003 long after the key was published). Pristiphora leucopus larvae feed on lime which momentarily made my heart sink as most of the sites I trap regularly aren't close to any lime, but then I remembered that on this occasion I'd set the trap right underneath some lime trees (among other species).

female Pristiphora leucopus showing wings, clypeus, hind tarsal claws, sawsheat (side view of each and dorsal view of pair) and saw (4 views), Wendling Beck Environment Project (Norfolk, UK), 6th August 2025