Sawfly Larvae Photo Gallery by Tom Murray at pbase.com

Sawfly Larvae

The best way to tell sawfly larvae from moths and butterfly caterpillars, is sawflies have more legs and their heads usually look a little different.

Abia sp.	Abia sp.	Abia sp.	Pamphiliidae - Acantholyda sp.	Pamphiliidae - Acantholyda sp.	Pamphiliidae - Acantholyda sp.
Pamphiliidae - Acantholyda sp.	Arge coccinea	Arge coccinea	Arge coccinea	Arge coccinea	Arge coccinea
Arge coccinea	Arge coccinea	Arge coccinea	Arge coccinea	Poison Ivy Sawfly - Arge humeralis	Poison Ivy Sawfly - Arge humeralis
Poison Ivy Sawfly - Arge humeralis	Birch Sawfly - Arge pectoralis	Birch Sawfly - Arge pectoralis	Birch Sawfly - Arge pectoralis	Birch Sawfly - Arge pectoralis	Willow Oak Sawfly - Arge quidia
Willow Oak Sawfly - Arge quidia	Elm Argid Sawfly - Arge scapularis	Elm Argid Sawfly - Arge scapularis	Arge clavicornis group	Arge sp.	Arge sp.
Arge sp.	Arge sp.	Arge sp.	Arge sp.	Hibiscus Sawfly (larva) - Atomacera decepta	Elm Sawfly larva - Cimbex americana
Heterarthrinae - Caliroa sp.	Caliroa sp.	Caliroa sp.	Cladius brullei	Cladius grandis	Nematinae - Craesus castaneae
Nematinae - Craesus castaneae	Dusky Birch Sawfly - Craesus latitarsus	Dusky Birch Sawfly - Craesus latitarsus	Dusky Birch Sawfly - Craesus latitarsus	Dusky Birch Sawfly - Craesus latitarsus	Dusky Birch Sawfly - Craesus latitarsus
Dusky Birch Sawfly - Craesus latitarsus	Dimorphopteryx melanognathus	Dimorphopteryx melanognathus	Dimorphopteryx virginicus	Dimorphopteryx sp.	Dimorphopteryx sp.
Dimorphopteryx sp.	Dimorphopteryx sp.	Dimorphopteryx sp.	Dimorphopteryx sp.	Introduced Pine Sawfly larva - Diprion similis	Introduced Pine Sawfly larva - Diprion similis
Introduced Pine Sawfly - Diprion similis	Introduced Pine Sawfly - Diprion similis (prepupal)	Dolerus sp.	Butternut Woolly Worm - Eriocampa juglandis	Butternut Woolly Worm - Eriocampa juglandis	Alder Sawfly - Eriocampa ovata
Eupareophora parca	Eupareophora parca	Euura calais	Euura limbatus?	Euura limbatus?	Euura salicisodoratus
Euura sp.	Euura sp.	Euura sp.	Euura sp.	Euura sp.	Euura sp.
Euura sp.	Euura sp.	Euura sp. (galls)	European Spruce Sawfly - Gilpinia hercyniae	European Spruce Sawfly - Gilpinia hercyniae	Striped Alder Sawfly - Hemichroa crocea
Lagium atroviolaceum	Macremphytus tarsatus	Macremphytus tarsatus	Macremphytus tarsatus	Macremphytus tarsatus	Macremphytus tarsatus
Macremphytus testaceus	Macremphytus testaceus	Macremphytus testaceus	Macremphytus testaceus	Macremphytus sp.	Macrophya sp.
Macrophya sp.	Monoctenus sp.	Monoctenus sp.	Monsoma pulveratum/inferentium	Nematus cf-erythrogaster	Nematus cf-erythrogaster
Nematus ventralis	Nematus ventralis	Nematus sp.	Nematus sp.	Nematus sp.	Abbot's Sawfly - Neodiprion abbotii
Red-headed Pine Sawfly - Neodiprion lecontei	Red-headed Pine Sawfly - Neodiprion lecontei	White Pine Sawfly - Neodiprion pinetum	European Pine Sawfly - Neodiprion sertifer	Cherry Webspinning Sawfly - Neurotoma fasciata	Cherry Webspinning Sawfly - Neurotoma fasciata
Pamphilius sp.	Periclista sp.	Periclista sp.	Blennocampinae - Periclista sp.	Periclista sp.	Periclista sp.
Selandrinae - Strongylogaster sp.	Strongylogastrini - Strongylogaster sp.	Strongylogastrini - Strongylogaster sp.	Strongylogastrini - Strongylogaster sp.	Symphyta sp.	Taxonus sp.
Taxonus sp.	Taxonus sp.	Tenthredo sp.	Tenthredo sp.	Tenthredo sp.	Trichiosoma triangulum
Trichiosoma triangulum	Trichiosoma triangulum	Trichiosoma triangulum	Tenthredininae	Nematini possibly Pristiphora sp.	Selandrinae
Tenthredininae	Tenthredinidae	Sawfly Larva	IMG_5517.JPG	Tenthredininae	Tenthredinidae
Tenthredinidae possibly Allantinae	Tenthredininae	Tenthredininae	Nematinae	Tenthredininae	Tenthredininae
IMG_1677.JPG	IMG_3554.JPG	IMG_3555.JPG	IMG_3703.JPG	IMG_3750.JPG	IMG_3762.JPG
IMG_3861.JPG	Tenthredinidae possibly Nematinae	Tenthredininae	IMG_2603.JPG	Nematinae - Cladiini	Tenthredinidae
Selandriinae	Tenthredininae	Nematini	Nematini	Tenthredininae	Tenthredinidae

comment |

Bob B.		18-Aug-2019 13:22
(Abitgher) Great gallery Tom! V

Robert		24-Jan-2016 17:19
after cutting down a tree infected with sawfly's. I've planted another tree in the same location. Is it possible the new tree may get infected also?

Gail Hampshire		05-Jul-2015 06:46
An excellent body of work, very helpful, thankyou

Guest		13-Sep-2014 13:40
Thank you. This gallery was so helpful! I thought we had caterpillars, but we have sawfly larva :)

Sandy		13-Sep-2013 13:25
Great gallery, Tom Murray! Thanks so much for all this work and for sharing it with the rest of us.

mary leuther		01-Sep-2013 03:07
thank you for this!

larose forest photos		02-Jul-2011 02:52
A very well presented and very useful gallery. Thank you for this. V

Bruce Saxton		24-Mar-2011 05:40
I have a picture of a probable Sawflie extracted from the contents of a fishes intestine in native scrubland in Koziousco area. I am hopeing to more accuratly identify it and find out a little about it.

Mike		12-Feb-2011 08:55
I encountered these recently. Do you think they're sawfly larvae? mikepickard.posterous.com/caterpillars Please reply by comenting on the post so that I see your response. Thankyou. :)

Guest		06-Feb-2011 12:31
Many of these do tend to look like the caterpillars of moths and butterflies. They are far more aggressive when meddled with than most lepidoterans though. I also note that many have rather large eyes for a larva. The Australian "Spitfire" sawfly larvae look more like beetle larvae...no prolegs, a whitish, yellow body and orange head. I always thought that when disturbed, these larvae would rear up their heads and vomit up a ball of liquid stomach contents. But in some of your photos, I see that they also elevate their rear ends and excrete fecal matter too.

Guest		22-Apr-2010 13:31
I may have misspoke, the sawfly larvae on my mugos was probably the black headed pine sawfly. Still, any help to revive my Mugos would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

Guest		22-Apr-2010 13:28
I was recently given two huge Mugo pines that I transplanted in my yard. About a week after, both were infested with what appears to have been the pamphillidae-ancantholyda sp. I think I've been able to control them, but in a matter of two days they had stripped numerous branches of all their needles. If anyone can offer help to restore my Mugos' health, please email me at michaeldernst@msn.com Thanks.

Guest		29-Jun-2009 00:39
Hi all, these photos are fantastic. I am about to start a PhD researching sawflies and the reasons behind the unusal larval grouping behaviour. The first step on my path is to find the darlings, the more different species the merrier. I would really appreciate if anyone who knows where they are or recently have been, would get in contact with me (wingedocelot@hotmail.com). Particularly somewhere close to melbourne would be wonderful. Thank you all for your time! Lisa.

Guest		25-May-2009 02:51
In our yard, we have mugo pines, and the sawfly larvae are a consistent problem from year to year, eating away at the needles. We have tried spraying, and picking manually, but recently tried a vacuum cleaner, a shop-vac, with the creavace tool, and it sucked them all off from the branches with no problem! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED as opposed to plucking them off manually.

Guest		08-May-2009 20:16
nicely presented gallery.

aporn		22-Aug-2008 15:02
Aug 08 The dogwood sawfly did a job on my dogwood and my friends'! First time ever that I saw the bug. From Champaign, Illinois. Itinerant gardener

Guest		16-Aug-2008 22:28
I live in Ontario. They destroy my loosestrife as well.

George		03-Sep-2007 19:50
I live in Maryland and am very curious to know what is the genus and species of image 6634? Each year they ravage our yellow loosestrife (Lysimachia ephemerum). Can you tell me anything about their natural history, especially how they over-winter? Thank you.

Peter Hollinger		14-Aug-2006 13:26
Weird critters. They look so much like lepidopterans.

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