EPPO datasheet: Gilpinia hercyniae

Abstract

Considerable confusion has occurred regarding the taxonomy of Gilpinia hercyniae (Adams and Entwistle 1981). Hartig first described Lophyrus polytomus in 1834, and then Lophyrus hercyniae in 1837 as two distinct spruce-feeding sawfly species in Europe. In 1910, both species were moved to the genus Diprion, but many authors continued to use Lophyrus. In 1912, a different author synonymized L. hercyniae under L. polytomus. Then in 1939, Benson erected a new genus, Gilpinia, under which he listed L. polytomus as G. polytoma, but did not recognize L. hercyniae. Soon thereafter, Reeks (1941) and Smith (1941), using cytological and morphological evidence, demonstrated that G. hercyniae and G. polytoma were distinct species, and that the species introduced into North America in the early 1900s was G. hercyniae. For several years, some authors used G. hercyniae, while others used the genus Diprion. Finally, in Smith's (1974) list of the Diprionidae of the world, he recognized both G. hercyniae and G. polytoma as distinct species. Therefore, in the early literature G. hercyniae will be found under many scientific names and often confused with G. polytoma. There are two other European spruce-feeding sawflies in the genus Gilpinia: G. abieticola (Dalla Torre) and G. fennica (Forsius) (Smith, 1974; Holuša & Roller, 2004).

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