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Family Argidae - Argid Sawflies

Sawfly larva - Arge Birch Sawfly--with defensive secretion - Arge pectoralis Sawfly - Sterictiphora - male Sawfly - Arge macleayi - male black and red sawfly Sawfly - Atomacera debilis? Sterictiphora? Sawfly - Arge
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon ("Symphyta" - Sawflies, Horntails, and Wood Wasps)
Family Argidae (Argid Sawflies)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
revised in(1)
Numbers
~60 spp. in 12 genera in our area(2)
Size
8-15 mm(2)
Identification
Stout bodied, with distinctive antennae: three-segmented, the third segment very long; males of some species have the last antennal segment U-shaped or Y-shaped (2)
NA argid larvae may be separated from other sawfly larvae by the following combination of characters: divergent lobe next to the tarsal claw of each thoracic leg (lobe reduced in Atomacera) • one-segmented antenna which may be flat, rounded, or peglike • abdominal segments 1 to 9 each with 3, sometimes 2, annulets • tarsal claw present on each thoracic leg or at least on meso- & metathoracic legs(3)
Key to genera in (1)
Range
Worldwide, most diverse in the tropics
Food
The larvae feed mainly on foliage of various kinds of ferns, horsetails, gymnosperms and angiosperms, occasionally they feed on the pith of twigs or on catkins.
Print References
descriptions & host associations of several common eastern species in (4)
Internet References