We just received this photograph from a reader:
He asked us if we know what the creatures in the photograph are. Although the photo doesn’t show many details of the creatures, we can see that they look like green caterpillars. However, after some close examination we have a hunch that these are not caterpillars but sawfly larvae. Sawflies are members of the wasp family, but they do not sting. Sawfly adults also don’t cause the damage that their larvae are known to inflict by their vigorous eating of leaves.
Sawfly larvae resemble green caterpillars with three pairs of large legs and seven pairs of smaller legs. These larvae are known to form clusters or lines on leaves that they are defoliating, like the creatures in this photo. As we mentioned, adult sawflies do not eat leaves, but they do lay their eggs on the leaves that their larvae will hatch on and begin to eat.
The species of sawfly larvae determines what type of leaf they eat. Sawfly larvae often only eat one particular species of plant, or some closely related plants. The type of plant they eat is usually hinted in their common name. For example, the Oak Sawfly eats the leaves that grow on Oak trees. The reader who submitted this photo didn’t mention what type of leaf he discovered these larvae on, but he can probably figure out what species of sawfly larvae he is dealing with if he knows the species of the plant.
To bring things to a close, a reader sent us a photo of several small green larvae lined up parallel to each other on a leaf. We believe that the specimens our reader has discovered are sawfly larvae. The reader didn’t mention if the plant he found these on were in his yard or just on a tree he came across. He didn’t elaborate, so we aren’t sure if he is anxious to get rid of these larvae or just curious about what they are.
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