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Photo#225938
Catepiller 04a - Pristiphora

Catepiller 04a - Pristiphora
Near the Horsefly River, Horsefly, Cariboo Region, British Columbia, Canada
September 10, 2008
Found on the leaf of a Amelanchier alnifolia shrub.

Images of this individual: tag all
Catepiller 04a - Pristiphora Catepiller 04b - Pristiphora

Moved

Pristiphora sp. It looks lik
Pristiphora sp.
It looks like European Pristiphora cincta but I don't know if another similar species in America.

Wider view?
Do you have a photo with a wider view of the leaf or plant? If so, I might be able to identify the plant species.

 
Uploaded
I have added an image of the full leaf as best I took. It looks like it may be an Amelanchier species leaf?

 
Yes
Saskatoon Serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia) is the only serviceberry species in British Colombia.

 
Could it be Prunus?
Similar individuals are noted on Prunus. Whatever this is, it does indeed bear a striking resemblance to Pristiphora cincta, but that species is only confirmed on Betula and Vaccinium, and differs in having the yellow blotches distinctly divided.

 
Amelanchier makes sense
In 1895, Dyar included in his key to sawfly larvae an unidentified species, which he found feeding on the edges of both Amelanchier and Prunus leaves in New Hampshire, described as "vinous [the color of red wine] with obliquely cut white fat patches." This sure seems to be what he was describing, and I guess that's what you're referring to. Although Dyar's paper only mentions Prunus as a host, his notebook also indicated he found these larvae on Amelanchier canadensis (see Smith 1986).

 
Agreed!
Yes, I suspect I know exactly what species this is, and will hopefully be publishing that information soon. I've seen several other records that would support Amelanchier (plus one which doesn't seem to track with any likely host, so probably the host range is somewhat flexible).

 
Great
Looking forward to that publication! Here's one that's said to be on hawthorn: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/79308099
I get the sense from leafminer and sawfly host ranges that some Rosaceae genera aren't very chemically differentiated. Not to mention the existence of intergeneric hybrids like Sorbaronia.

Moved

Too many pair of abdominal prolegs
Must be the larva of a sawfly instead.

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