Sawfly - Arge abdominalis

Moved

… v belov, 7 May, 2010 - 10:41pm

Argidae

Arge abdominals. A very striking sawfly - all black with contrasging red abdomen. Not much is known about this, but there are records of the larvae feeding on Rhododendron canescens. This association of the adult with poison ivy is probably incidental.

… Dave Smith, 7 May, 2010 - 8:38pm

Thanks Dave!

Thank you for your help with this identification!

… Ron M., 8 May, 2010 - 10:01am

3-in-1

John Maxwell - I know it shouldn't be linked. None of them should be as I mentioned in the comments on the first image. I have them linked to aid in the movement and placement of these images in the guide. I have already place thumbnails to all other images in each of the comments and will unlink them after it is determined where they will be placed. I am expecting to frass this image due to the quality. I will be in the same area again Friday (depending on the weather) and will try to get a better shot of an adult.

John Carr - Dave Smith commented on this image concerning the amount of black on the thorax. But even if this adult is Arge humeralis, I only included the image of the adult because of the proximity to the larvae. I understand that this doesn’t necessarily indicate a relationship...

Ron Hemberger - This is the first poison ivy I have ran across in years. I found this on a tree at the fence line at my daughter's school just outside her class. So far, I have never had a reaction to it but people tell me that could change so I would usually try to avoid it.

… Ron M., 6 May, 2010 - 3:41am

I think

that part of the problem with the idea of "aid in the movement and placement of these images in the guide" implies that they are all going to be IDed as the same thing (otherwise how would this help). But there is a possible problem, say you get an ID based on the adult, and you move everything to that page ("aid in the movement and placement of these images in the guide"), but if they all aren't the same...
I've seen experts give IDs based on some part of image 1 plus some feature of image 2, only to have the contributor then say "so both insects are the same species?", causing the expert to retract everything.

The immature images probably belong linked, but probably not the adult (other than a thumb), otherwise you may accidentally get a false ID.

… John R. Maxwell, 6 May, 2010 - 10:34am

Thanks for your persistence.

Looks like it has turned out that the adult is a different species. I unlinked this from the other images last night. I did capture a larva in a jar with several leafs of poison ivy. Hopefully I will get an adult soon.

… Ron M., 7 May, 2010 - 10:59pm

Are you sure

this belongs linked?

… John R. Maxwell, 5 May, 2010 - 8:04am

Color difference

The Arge humeralis we have in the guide have a red patch on the thorax separated from the red patch on the abdomen.

… John F. Carr, 5 May, 2010 - 6:54am

Are you seeing a lot of insects on poison ivy?

I've started seeing plenty on poison oak, almost always in shaded areas. Wonder why.

… Ron Hemberger, 5 May, 2010 - 1:16am

Wow - Sorry for the delay

I guess the answer would be no but only because I have not seen any poison ivy other than this in the last few summers... This was growing on a tree just out side of Sarah's classroom :(

-and-

Update on the larva - it died...

… Ron M., 21 June, 2010 - 9:54pm

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… v belov, 5 May, 2010 - 12:30am