Is this a fly of some sort?
Location: Rockford, Minnesota
June 4, 2011 7:55 pm
My husband discovered this thing on the screen door of our balcony during the summer last year and he had to take a picture of it! We’ve never seen anything like this before!
Signature: Brandee Lee
Pigeon Horntail
Hi Brandee,
This is a non-stinging Wood Wasp known as a Pigeon Horntail. The female uses her ovipositor, which appears to be a stinger, to deposit her eggs under the bark of dead or dying trees. The larvae are wood borers. We just recently posted several photos of the Pigeon Horntail’s primary predator, the Giant Ichneumon.
¶ Posted 05 June 2011 § ‡ ° flying insect
Location: Merritt, BC Canada
May 28, 2011 3:00 pm
Recently found this insect on a trellis in our yard. At first glance thought maybe it was a relative to the wasp however, it seemed very docile in nature. It allowed us to get very close for a snap shot and afterwards, we tried to entice it to fly but it just clung to a stick. It definatley tolerated alot of poking and proding! Please help us identify this insect, we have had no luck searching it out ourselves and have never seen it in our yard before. Thanks!
Signature: Robin
Object Merger: Sawfly and Tendril
Hi Robin,
This is a Sawfly and we love the object merger that is created by the tendril. This photo conjures up thoughts of mind control in science fiction movies of the 1950s when America was engaged in the Cold War. We think your photographs are positively gorgeous. It is especially nice that the lateral view is so excellent for identification purposes for even the most novice of insect enthusiasts.
American Sawfly
The Elm Sawfly, Cimbex americana, would be more appropriately called the American Sawfly if the official taxonomically accurate binomial names were translated into English. You were quite observant to notice that the Elm Sawfly resembles the wasps as they are in the same insect order, Hymenoptera. Sawflies are non-stinging relatives of bees and wasps.
¶ Posted 28 May 2011 § ‡ ° AUSTRALIA, MELBOURNE
Location: melbourne
May 19, 2011 11:36 am
found this in my freinds back yard have no idea about bugs all we know is it only seams to move with its front 4 legs.
Signature: elias
Longtailed Sawfly
Dear Elias,
This is the larva of a Sawfly, a nonstinging group of insects in the order that contains Bees and Wasps. We believe it is a Longtailed Sawfly in the Subfamily Pterygophorinae according to the Brisbane Insect website where they are described as: “Larvae in this subfamily feed on leaves of different native plants. They have six or more pairs of prolegs and a “tail” on the last segment. They do not aggregate in large group. They feed actively in small group during the day.”
Unknown Australian Caterpillar
Subject: Unknown Australian Caterpillar
Location: Seaford, Victoria, Australia
May 9, 2011 8:56 pm
We found this caterpillar in a tree in our garden, in late summer. It moves really slow and has the strangest extra ”leg” at the end of it’s body which it uses to hold on to things. It’s about an inch long.
Signature: Kyle Horne
Spitfire Grub
Dear Kyle,
Your mistaking this insect for a Caterpillar is quite understandable, but it is actually the larva of a Sawfly, a nonstinging relative of bees and wasps. We were unable to find an exact color match for your Sawfly larva on the Brisbane Insect website, however it very closely resembles the members of the subfamily Perginae, the Spitfire Sawflies whose larvae are called Spitfire Grubs.
Hey thanks Daniel, that was really quick! I have another bug I’d like to identify and will send through the pics and description tomorrow.
Thanks again
Kyle Horne
¶ Posted 09 May 2011 § ‡ ° Canned larvae
Location: San Antonio, TX
April 4, 2011 1:06 am
Hi Daniel,
This caterpillar(?) was in my rosebush dirt, and at first it looked like a grub, but then I plucked him out and he definitely had caterpillar legs. He was maybe half an inch long and very grubby looking. Anyways, I have no idea what he is. Doesn’t he look as if he’s just popped out of a can?
Thanks!
Signature: Bughugger
Sawfly Larva
Dear Bughugger,
You probably realize that many caterpillars are difficult to properly identify, but we do not believe this is a Caterpillar. In our opinion, this is a Sawfly Larva, and Sawfly Larvae are often confused with Caterpillars. Many Sawfly Larvae are difficult to properly identify to the species level, but we did find a very close match on BugGuide, but alas, it is unidentified.
¶ Posted 04 April 2011 § ‡ ° Tampa Bay Florida swamp bugs
Location: http://www.stpete.org/boyd/
March 26, 2011 3:18 pm
Hello you wonderful people.
I am hoping you might help with this. They and many others of their kind were mostly in pairs, attached and motionless to the underside of some mangrove or perhaps myrtle bush leaves at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, St Petersburg, FL 33707 (or close to that zip). I asked one of the guides who said, Hmmm, I don’t know.
Perhaps you could help me and I’ll help them?
Signature: margo rose
Sawfly Larvae
Dear Margo Rose,
We are relatively certain that these are the Larvae of Sawflies, but beyond that, we have not had any luck finding a species name. Sawflies are related to Wasps and Bees, and the larvae of many species resemble caterpillars. Some species of Sawflies have larvae that gregariously feed in great numbers, often defoliating trees. You may have better luck than we have had by browsing through the images on BugGuide. Knowing the host plant for certain should help narrow the search.
¶ Posted 27 March 2011 § ‡ ° Winged Insect
Location: Victoria, Australia
February 11, 2011 11:16 pm
This winged insect landed on a leaf, it was very docile and was very easy to take a photo of as it did not try to fly away.
Was seen in Victoria, Australia, summer season, weather conditions were slightly overcast, slight wind.
I would like with your help to identify this insect, thanks.
Signature: Al
Bottlebrush Sawfly
Dear Al,
Though the markings on the abdomen of your specimen are a little different, we believe there are enough similarities between your specimen and the Meleleuca Sawfly, Lophyrotoma zonalis, posted on Oz Animals to deduce that this is either a color variation or a closely related species. Sawflies are non-stinging relatives of Bees and Wasps, and many species can be of significant concern because when the larvae which resemble caterpillars are plentiful, they can defoliate cultivated as well as native trees. The photos of this species on the Brisbane Insect Website, where it is identified as the Paperbark Sawfly, show yet another color variation with an very orange abdomen.
Bottlebrush Sawfly
We have decided to post all three of your images.
Hi Daniel and Al:
As far as I can tell, the Long-tailed sawfly group (Pergidae: Pterygophorinae) has only two relatively small genera, Lophyrotoma and Pterygophorus, both limited to Australia and Papua New Guinea. Superficially the genera appear to be distinguished primarily by the pattern of orange on the abdomen and perhaps the presence/absence or degree of white coloration at the base of the antennae. Based on these characteristics, I believe this one may be a species of Pterygophorus, of which there are only two that make it as far south as Victoria. It looks very similar to P. cinctus (Bottlebrush Sawfly), but I was not able to find an image or description of P. facielongus. The males of all species have extravagantly pectinate antennae, so this one looks like a female. Final note – I also found several sites where the Bottlebrush sawfly is referred to as Phylacteophaga cinctus (Phylacteophaginae), but I believe this is an older synonym. Regards. Karl
Bottlebrush Sawfly
Nice sleuthing Karl. It appears you have nailed the Bottlebrush Sawfly identification.
Connecticut caterpillars
Location: Tunxis State Forest, Connecticut
September 26, 2010 9:56 pm
We saw three different types of caterpillars today. I guess the first two are tussock moths? I have no idea about the ones in the third picture!
Signature: Aine
Sawfly Larvae
Hi Aine,
Your third image of caterpillars are actually impostors. They are the larvae of Sawflies, nonstinging relatives of bees and wasps. By comparing your photo to images posted to BugGuide, we believe they may be Birch Sawfly Larvae, Arge pectoralis.
I tried using the Discover Life caterpillar guide, but couldn’t find anything like them – now I know why! They were devouring a birch leaf, so that sounds pretty definite. Thanks!
¶ Posted 27 September 2010 § ‡ ° 
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