11 Wednesday Sep 2024
Posted in insects
Back at the start of August, I blogged about The weird & wonderful world of Sawfly larvae, which included two of the slug-like species Caliroa annulipes and Caliroa cerasi. Recently, I found another one, Caliroa cinxia, a larva that looks very similar to Caliroa annulipes but its front end – more accurately, its thoracic region – is much more yellow in colour. You can read more about it and see what the adult sawfly looks like on The Sawflies (Symphyta) of Britain and Ireland website.
01 Thursday Aug 2024
Posted in insects
Tags
British sawflies, Caliroa annulipes, Caliroa cerasi, Eriocampa ovata, Euura pavida, Nematus septentrionalis, sawfly larvae
I mentioned earlier in the week, in my post about the sawfly larva Heterarthrus vagans mining the leaves of Alder, that I’d found that miner while checking out leaves to see what small creatures had been munching holes in their leaves. And my recent staring at holey leaves on other trees and shrubs, in other locations, has produced a nice variety of Sawfly larvae, some that look like regular caterpillars, others like slimy slugs. I’ve linked the names to the Sawflies of Britain and Ireland website for those interested in more information on each species.
Caliroa annulipes on Hawthorn
Caliroa cerasi, also on Hawthorn
An unidentified Cladius species, on Field rose
The one that looks like bird poo, Eriocampa ovata, on Alder
One of the bum-waggling species, Euura pavida, on Willow
Another bottom waggler, Nematus septentrionalis, on Birch. I love how their munching has created a heart from their leaf.
06 Friday Oct 2023
Another day, another Cladius sawfly – actually, this time, 6 sawfly larvae, all munching away on the leaves of a Field rose. I was hoping their identification would be as easy as yesterday’s Cladius ulmi, with its distinctive black-spotted face, but no!
This time my expert confirmed it was definitely a Cladius species and that my guess of Cladius pectinicornis was the most likely but C. pilicornis and C. compressicornis also use rose as their larval plant of choice. When I consulted The Sawflies (Symphyta) of Britain and Ireland website I found for C. pilicornis that the only larva shown on the website had a broad dark stripe down its back and the text said the larvae associated with Hawthorn, not rose, so that seemed unlikely. However, when I checked C. compressicornis, it did look to be a likely contender, with features and larval plants very similar to C. pectinicornis.
So, once again I have to concede that I can’t put an exact name to these very cute little sawfly larvae, but I certainly enjoyed watching them. When much in the world around us seems maddening and/or depressing, I find there’s something very calming about watching caterpillars eating and gliding about.
13 Wednesday Sep 2023
Tags
British sawflies, Euura pavida, Euura pavida larvae, Nematus pavidus, sawfly larvae, sawfly on willow, willow, willow species
After last week’s heatwave (which kept me indoors a couple of days – I do NOT like the heat!), Monday’s walk was deliciously cool, if a little damp from un-forecast rain, and, even better, I found two new-to-me creatures. The first was a new species of sawfly larvae that I spotted when I saw this barely-there leaf. I’m always curious when I see leaves like this to find what has caused the damage.
It didn’t take long to find the culprits this time – at least 20, possibly more, hungry larvae munching the tough leaves of a willow species right down to their veins.
Previously known as Nematus pavidus, their species name has now changed to Euura pavida. The larvae are usually found chewing on willow leaves but can also be found on Alder and Poplar. You can see what the adult sawfly looks like on The Sawflies (Symphyta) of Britain and Ireland website.
23 Wednesday Aug 2023
Tags
Birch, British sawflies, Nematus septentrionalis, sawfly eggs, sawfly larvae, sawfly larvae on Birch, sawfly on Birch
The sawfly larvae are back!
You may remember my post last summer (Sawfly larvae on Birch, July 2022) about the black-spotted yellow-and-green larvae of the sawfly Nematus septentrionalis that were munching through the leaves of a local Birch sapling. Well, luckily, the sapling survived but it’s now providing a feast for this year’s brood of the same sawflies.
This time around I’ve found the larvae at a much earlier stage of development. And, destructive though they may be, they do look rather cute curled up in their individual holes in the leaves, and quite different in colour at this young age.
Plus, this time I spotted the eggs they emerged from – and some eggs yet to hatch, laid by the adult sawfly along the veins of the leaves.
I may sound a trifle over-enthusiastic about creatures that are basically eating a tree. But, last year, something ate most of the larvae before they consumed too many leaves and, as there are a good number of hungry Stonechats, Whitethroats, Green- and Goldfinches currently in this field, I think the sawfly larvae’s days are probably numbered.
09 Saturday Jul 2022
Tags
British sawflies, larvae eating Birch leaves, Nematus septentrionalis, sawfly larvae, sawfly larvae on Birch
When I spotted these mini-beasties, they were doing a very good job of munching their way through about half the tasty young leaves of a Birch sapling. I knew they were sawfly larvae – that bottom-in-the-air pose is very characteristic of sawfly larvae – and, naturally enough, I assumed they were the Birch sawfly (Cimbex femoratus), but a quick image google showed I was wrong. It took a while to track them down but it seems these are the larvae of Nematus septentrionalis (formerly Craesus septentrionalis).
I was rather concerned for the health of the Birch as it is one of a relatively new plantation at the local country park but, when I revisited the site just a few days later, all but a couple of the larvae had disappeared. I don’t think they would have grown to pupation stage that quickly, so I assume a local bird or two had enjoyed them.
19 Thursday May 2022
Posted in insects
Tags
butterfly caterpillars, butterfly larvae, caterpillars, larvae, moth caterpillars, moth larvae, sawfly caterpillars, sawfly larvae
Butterflies, moths, sawflies – all have larvae that look like caterpillars, cats. It’s that time of year when I feel compelled to check any leaves with holes to try to find the hole-maker, and so I’m finding lots of cool cats. These are just a few of the recent leaf-munchers I’ve discovered, some I can identify, some I can’t but that’s not always important: Lackey, unknown, Mirificarma lentiginosella, unknown, unknown, Drinker, Orange-tip, and Copper underwing.
14 Saturday May 2022
If you’ve been following along here for a while, you might remember last year’s ‘first for Wales’ find, the distinctive marks on leaves of Wych elm trees of the Elm zigzag sawfly (Aproceros leucopoda) (Zorro comes to Wales, October 2021). For the past couple of weeks I’ve been monitoring the trees where I first saw those marks and, yesterday, found them again, with the larvae that create them in situ, happily munching away on the elm leaves. In fact, following a good look around the area, I found larvae on six Wych elm trees (and there were other trees I couldn’t access), and then found a single larva on a Wych elm at Cosmeston, perhaps half a mile away. It will be interesting to see how quickly these creatures spread through the local landscape.
07 Monday Feb 2022
Tags
British leafmines, Creeping cinquefoil, Fenella nigrita, Fenella nigrita larval mines, leafmines on cinquefoil, sawfly larvae, sawfly leafmines
When reviewing my leafmine records yesterday and comparing them to those I’ve blogged, I realised there are several I’ve yet to cover here. Most are spring- and summer-time finds so I’ll post about them at the appropriate time but this is one I found in December – I didn’t cover it then as I was in the middle of my A-to-Z end-of-year countdown.
These are the leafmines of the sawfly Fenella nigrita. Its larval mines can be found on Agrimony and on the various cinquefoils – I found these on Creeping cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans). Though the British Leafminers website reports that the mines are normally seen in summer and autumn, I found these on 3 December and the mines are occupied (I’ve added a pointer to one of the larvae in the photo below right). Presumably the mild weather meant a longer breeding season for these sawflies, as with many other creatures.
30 Thursday Sep 2021
Posted in insects
Tags
British insects, moth caterpillars, moth larvae, mystery caterpillars, mystery larvae, sawfly caterpillars, sawfly larvae
To showcase their diversity, in colour, size, shape, pattern, habits and hairiness, I’ve been gathering photos of these (cater)pillars of the insect community, the larvae of moths, sawflies, and some mysteries, which could be one of these … or something other. Here they are:
Moths: 5-spot burnet (Zygaena trifolii), Drinker (Euthrix potatoria), and the delightfully named Maiden’s blush (Cyclophora punctaria).
Sawflies: a possible Allantus species (its identity cannot be confirmed as it was on the wrong plant), and the fluffy looking Eriocampa ovata.
Mysteries: if you can ID any of these, please leave a comment below. Thanks!
earthstar 
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