Sawfly - unnamed 1

This sawfly, seen in the cemetery in June 2023, may be Macrophya alboannulata or Macrophya albicincta.

Species introduction

At a glance
Latin name: 
Macrophya sp.
Family: 
Sawflies
Family Latin name: 
TENTHREDINIDAE
Category: 
Insects other

Species description

Species description

This sawfly, seen in the cemetery in June 2023, may be Macrophya alboannulata or Macrophya albicincta. Determining which requires examination of an individual rather than a photograph. Both species are small - at under 5mmm in length. Larvae feed on grasses, sedges and Elder, and the latter feed on Valerian.

Species photographs

Larger photograph(s) (click to magnify)

Details

Species family information

The Tenthredinidae family of sawflies, of which the Turnip Sawfly is a member, has over seven and a half thousand species. This family belongs to the 'super-family' of Tenthredinoidea sawflies which number perhaps eight and a half thousand. Sawflies are mostly herbivores (rather than carnivores), often black or brown and between 3mm and 2cms in length. Female Sawflies have ovipositers (egg-laying appendages) that are saw-like, enabling them to cut slits in bark and twigs through which they lay their eggs. From this, they have gained their English family name.

Category information

Insects evolved in the Ordovician from a crustacean ancestral lineage as terrestrial invertebrates with six legs (the Hexapoda). This was the time when terrestrial plants first appeared. In the Devonian some insects developed wings and flight, the first animals to do so. An early flying group was the Odonata from the Carboniferous, the damselflies and dragonflies, which have densely-veined wings and long, ten-segmented bodies. They are day-flying carnivores, with an aquatic larval stage, so are commonly seen flying near water. The carnivorous larvae are called nymphs. Odonata species are short-lived, damselflies surviving for 2-4 weeks, dragonflies for up to 2 months.

Some insect groups in the Cretaceous co-evolved with the flowering plants, and they have had a close association ever since. These groups are the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants), the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), the Diptera (flies), and the Coleoptera (beetles). The diversity of beetles is astonishing. Of all the known animal species on the planet, one in five is a beetle!