Extra Orange - _TNY_6708
Sawflies, the family Symphyta, are vegetarian wasps which use their ovipositor to "saw" their way into plants and lay their eggs there, protected from predators.
There are almost 9000 species around the world and they obviously sometime look completely different from anything else - but there are also many which are hard to tell apart.
This beautiful specimen with pollen on its face is a rose sawfly (Arge ochropus). I initially thought it was a species in the Athalia genus, but a helpful guy on Facebook pointed out that Athalias don't have this kind of smooth antennae and pointed me towards the rose sawfly. Thanks Jon Hessman!
Extra Orange - _TNY_6708
Sawflies, the family Symphyta, are vegetarian wasps which use their ovipositor to "saw" their way into plants and lay their eggs there, protected from predators.
There are almost 9000 species around the world and they obviously sometime look completely different from anything else - but there are also many which are hard to tell apart.
This beautiful specimen with pollen on its face is a rose sawfly (Arge ochropus). I initially thought it was a species in the Athalia genus, but a helpful guy on Facebook pointed out that Athalias don't have this kind of smooth antennae and pointed me towards the rose sawfly. Thanks Jon Hessman!