David Element's Wildlife Web Page Hymenoptera 8

David Element

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____________________ Hymenoptera 8 - Sawflies

CIMBICID SAWFLY Abia ?sericea (f)

TENTHREDINID SAWFLY Tenthredo thomsoni (f)

TENTHREDINID SAWFLY LARVA Tenthredo mesomelas

Sawflies are a notoriously difficult group of insects to identify from photographs, a trait which is shared with many other hymenopterans. There are hundreds of British species, many of them being so similar morphologically that the insects will probably require examination under a microscope for full classification. The sexes may be dimorphic which further complicates identification and even the most striking of markings may not be diagnostic. A couple of the more readily recognisable adult sawflies have been portrayed above (Tenthredo thomsoni was identified from the information provided on Malcolm Storey's extremely useful BioImages (UK) website: http://www.bioimages.org.uk/Index.HTM .

Identification of larvae may be more straightforward if the observer is able to recognise the larval food plant – or if a specimen of a known species has been provided by Roger Hawkins, as in this case!