Diversity and abundance of the sawfly (Hymenoptera: Symphyta) community in Darab rain-fed damask rose plain, Fars province, southwestern Iran

Sawflies (Hymenoptera, Symphyta) are one of the important pest groups on damask rose, Rosa damascena P. Mill. (Plantae: Rosaceae). This study has been carried out to identify and investigate species diversity of sawflies in Darab rain-fed damask rose plain, Fars province which with 5290 hectares is the largest organic, rain-fed damask rose plain in the world in 2019. Sampling was done using four Malaise traps which were installed in different areas of the plain, from spring to summer. Collecting pots were emptied at an interval of two weeks and sawfly individuals were then isolated, mounted, or pinned and finally identified. To predict species richness of sawflies, the rarefaction method was applied to abundance-based and sample-based data. Totally, 133 individuals were collected representing 5 species from two families, Argidae: a single species, Arge cingulata Jakowlew, 1891 and Tenthredinidae: four species, Allantus (Allantus) viennensis (Schrank, 1781), Cladius pectinicornis (Geoffroy, 1785), Macrophya diaphenia Benson, 1968 and Tenthredo marginella Fabricius, 1793. Allantus viennensis was dominant with 63.9% of collected individuals. Tenthredo marginella and M. diaphenia had the following abundance rankings of 26.3% and 8.27% collected individuals respectively. Two species, A. cingulata and C. pectinicornis, were the singletons. The adult flight period of the dominant species, A. viennensis, was registered in two distinct periods and the others in one. Rarefaction showed that more sampling will yield 6-8 sawfly species in this region. The differences between the sawfly community of Darab damask rose plain and other regions of Iran and the world were discussed.