Return to Flies Index
Return to Main Index
flower, flowers, wild, wildflowers, countryside, daisy, daisies, sea, mayweed, seeds, gardening, lawns, shrubs, trees, flowers, cultivate, garden, hedgerows
|
Description: In Britain there are two species of large rose sawfly: Arge pagana and Arge ochropus. The adult insects of both species have yellow abdomens; A.ochropus has legs, thorax and heads being mostly orange-yellow, the legs having black rings towards the feet. Arge pagana is the more common species and has a completely black thorax and legs.
Rows of eggs are inserted into soft young rose shoots and female sawflies are sometimes seen dangling from such stems, attached only by their saw-like egg-laying organs.
After hatching, the larvae feed together in family groups. They are pale green with black spots and yellow blotches, and are up to 25mm (about 1in) long. When fully fed, they go into the soil to pupate.
A.pagana will produce two (sometimes three) generations from May to October whereas Arge ochropus usually has a single generation in early summer, but sometimes there is a second generation in late summer.
Return to Flies Index Return to Main Index flower, flowers, wild, wildflowers, countryside, daisy, daisies, sea, mayweed, seeds, gardening, lawns, shrubs, trees, flowers, cultivate, garden, hedgerows |