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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » "Symphyta" - Sawflies, Horntails, and Wood Wasps » Common Sawflies (Tenthredinidae) » Allantinae » Allantini » Dogwood Sawflies (Macremphytus)

Genus Macremphytus - Dogwood Sawflies

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Identification · Range · Life Cycle · Works Cited

UNKNOWN CATERPILLAR - YELLOW W WHITE POWDERY COATING - Macremphytus testaceus

Dogwood Sawfly - Macremphytus tarsatus - female

Sawfly larvae burrowing into my deck post - Macremphytus testaceus

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 Tenthredinidae (Common Sawflies)

Subfamily Allantinae

Tribe Allantini

Genus Macremphytus (Dogwood Sawflies)

Explanation of Names

Macremphytus MacGillivray 1908

Numbers

4 spp., all in our area(1)

Identification

Larvae start out covered with a powdery waxy white coating, which they shed later in the year to become yellow with black cross-stripes or spots on top.

D.R. Smith on distinguishing the larvae: The larva of M. semicornis is not known; larvae of M. lovetti and M. testaceus are very similar. Larvae of the two common eastern species can be separated as follows:

M. tarsatus: both the feeding stages and prepupal stage have a rectangular black mark on each segment.

M. testaceus: the feeding stages are uniformly green (no black marks), though the whitish bloom may make them look white.

Color changes when molting to the prepupal stage; there are black spots on the body (not the rectangular pattern as in tarsatus).

Range

M. lovetti Pacific Northwest; M. semicornis e. Canada & ne. US; M. testaceus and M. tarsatus in e. US & Canada

Life Cycle

Larvae bore into wood in fall to pupate and overwinter. In wild conditions this would normally be dead wood on the ground, but they have also adapted to bore into man-made structures. Dave Smith has reared them by giving them corks to bore into.

Works Cited

1.	American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico Ross H. Arnett. 2000. CRC Press.

Contributed by Tony DiTerlizzi on 1 August, 2006 - 6:41pm
Additional contributions by Hannah Nendick-Mason, Beatriz Moisset, ceiseman, v belov, PaleoJon
Last updated 5 March, 2023 - 11:21pm

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