This pretty little Sawfly is a Conifer Sawfly in the genus Monoctenus. I found her on an Eastern Cedar tree in my backyard. I had never seen anything like her before and therefore had no idea what she was exactly. I submitted this image to bugguide and within minutes had an ID ........Conifer Sawfly. Thank you John Ascher for your time in identifying my mystery insect. Another thank you to Dave Smith for identifying it to genus. This particular specimen is a female, and most likely was considering this particular tree as a host for her young. Conifer Sawflies are considered rare to uncommon in the Midwestern States. They are much more common on the Eastern Coast where conifer trees are much more prevalent. In large numbers they can cause significant damage to conifer trees. There are at least 11 species of conifer sawflies in the Eastern United States and most are host specific and will feed on different types of pine trees. Females will lay their eggs within the needles of the pine tree by sawing the needles open with their serrated ovipostior. It is this ovipositor that earns the sawfly their common names, as it is very saw-like in its structure. I feel privileged to have seen this species and will continue to monitor the cedar tree in my yard to see if she laid eggs. Hopefully I will be posting pictures of her offspring soon.
How exciting! And what a great photo capture!
ReplyDeleteShelly, when you get a chance this summer could you talk about digger bees? (If you haven't already, and if you have, please give me a heads up that they're in the archive somewhere.) We have a whole bunch of them this year, although I have yet to succeed in getting a photo because they enter and leave the holes so quickly -- and there are so many holes that I feel a bit like I'm playing that gopher bashing game they used to have at the arcade in my childhood, never sure which hole to watch with the camera. We are, of course, happy to have them and leaving them alone. They are right up next to the house, occupying about two square feet of ground on the edge of the strawberry patch, and seem very busy and healthy. :)
I would love to do a post on Digger bees. They are such cool insects. I will work up a post on them soon. I love your comparison to the carnival game Whack-a-mole....lol
ReplyDeleteLast year I had a leaf cutter bee. I was sitting outside and watched as it carried cut leaves into the metal tubing on one of our lawn chairs. It was so cool. I never could get a very good picture of her either, she moved so quickly in and out of that hole. I managed one very blurry shot. She really picked a good hideout for her offspring. Nobody would see them up there in that tubing.
Wow. Never seen one before. Great shot!
ReplyDeleteThis was the first time I'd seen one as well. It took some investigating and some help from bugguide to figure out what she was. I need to check the tree where she was to see if she laid eggs on it.
ReplyDeleteLovely coloured fly - almost wasp-like. Additional information other than identification is appreciated - thanks
ReplyDeleteSorry Zane; I've posted about sawflies before and sometimes forget that people might not have read previous posts. Sawflies are not "flies" they are in fact closely related to wasps and are in the same family of hymenoptera. They do not sting people. They get their common name from the saw-like ovipositor on the female. She will use this blade to slice open leaves or stems and deposit her eggs. Many species of sawflies are of economical importance because of the damage they cause in the larval stage as they feed on various crops, trees and other plants. The adults are usually nectar eaters and cause no problems other than they breed and create more munchers. Their larvae look very much like caterpillars. Their eyes are typically much more noticeable, they have 6 or more pairs of legs on their abdomen, whereas caterpillars have 5 or fewer. I hope this is helpful, and thank you for stopping by and looking around.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the information - wasp-like is correct then, and not fly like.
ReplyDeleteAppreciate the information.
You are very welcome, yes you were correct wasp-like. Happy to help.
ReplyDelete