Sawfly beetle - an insect that destroys forests
Trees and shrubs are damaged by many insects. Among them, very voracious plant pests stand out - real sawflies belonging to the sessile-bellied family. Among the large number of species there are those that like to settle on the gardeners' plot.
Content
What does the sawfly look like: photo
Description of the sawfly
Name: Sawflies
Latin: TenthredinidaeClass: Insects - Insecta
Squad: Hymenoptera - Hymenoptera
 | Habitats: | everywhere |
 | Dangerous for: | greenery of most trees and bushes |
 | Means of destruction: | folk methods, chemicals |
Common sawfly.
The insect is outwardly similar to bees or wasps, but sawflies do not have a narrow part between the head and body. In insects of different species, body sizes range from 2 mm to 80 mm. The color of the female and male of the same species sometimes differs, and can be dark or bright. Also females and males differ in size.
The mouth apparatus is of a gnawing type, there are 5 eyes on the head, two of them are larger. In front, on the head, there are antennae-antennae, which play an important role in the life of an insect. The body has three pairs of legs. Two pairs of wings are transparent, membranous, the anterior ones are slightly larger than the posterior ones.
In females, there is a sawtooth ovipositor at the end of the abdomen; in males, this place is closed by a plate. The eggs are yellowish-white or greenish, large, covered with a soft shell on top.
Larvae, depending on the species, can be from 5 mm to 45 mm in length. They look like caterpillars, but they do not have 5 pairs of legs, but 6 or 8, and some species have 11 pairs of legs, and 2 eyes, and caterpillars have 6. Due to their similarity with caterpillars, sawfly larvae are called false caterpillars. Their color largely depends on the color of the food they eat.
Pupae are yellowish or greenish-white. A delicate cover protects a cocoon with a strong shell, brown, yellow or brown.
Life
The sawfly hibernates in the pupal stage. In mid-April, adults emerge from them, ready to mate.
- Females look for a suitable place to lay their eggs. To do this, they choose the tops of plants with blossoming leaves.
Development of the sawfly.
- After mating, females pierce leaf plates with an ovipositor and lay eggs in the holes made and seal the puncture sites with a special substance so that the laying site does not fester.
- The larvae appear after 3-15 days and immediately begin to destroy the leaves. Caterpillars of many species of sawflies live in nests, and in a month and a half they severely damage the plant.
- In early June, for pupation, the larvae find secluded places in the crown of trees or hide in the grass, soil.
- After the last molt, the caterpillar turns into a pupa, from which an adult will appear in 7-10 days.
- In mid-July, the second generation of the sawfly will appear. Not only pupae overwinter, eggs and larvae also survive at low temperatures.
Some sawfly species may have 3-4 generations per season.
Types of sawflies
There are about 5000 of these insects in the world. Here are some of the most common types.
Methods for protecting plants from sawflies
Sawflies are insects that live all over the earth. They infect trees, shrubs, and other types of vegetation. They parasitize on the surface of leaves, in plant shoots and tree trunks. The larvae of these insects are dangerous, they are very voracious and, if they appear in large numbers, can cause great harm.
To combat these insects, chemical treatments and folk remedies are used, which are more harmless to plants. But each species has taste preferences and there are processing features depending on the type of affected plant.
Spring and autumn preventive measures help destroy pupae and sawfly larvae.
Conclusion
Sawflies can cause serious damage to various types of plants. They affect all vegetative parts, spread quickly and multiply. The fight against them is carried out with complex measures - prevention and protection. If small pests are not stopped, they will quickly cope with a whole adult tree.
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