Is this a Sawfly Larva? ID help please.

earthdragon64 · #1 (**permalink**) 30-09-2009, 11:27 AM

A few days ago I took some very poor photos of a larva on my mobile phone camera, and found I can't upload them anywhere. The larva was in a birch forest near Aviemore.

I showed the pictures to a friend, who had taken some photos of the same type of larva about a month before in Boat of Garten. We're both fairly sure it's a Sawfly larva of some sort, so he sent me some photos to see if I could get it confirmed as such, and identify the species, if possible, from the photos.

Any help will be appreciated.

charlieb · #2 (**permalink**) 30-09-2009, 11:36 AM

Yup, a sawfly - maybe a Cimbex sp.?

earthdragon64 · #3 (**permalink**) 30-09-2009, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by charlieb

Yup, a sawfly - maybe a Cimbex sp.?

Thanks for that, having now looked in the Gallery for Cimbex, I think it may be a Large Alder Sawfly larva - Cimbex connatus.

Cimbex connatus - Large alder sawfly - Wildlife Photography

charlieb · #4 (**permalink**) 01-10-2009, 09:44 AM

Theres a bit on Cimbex sp larva in the 3rd Sawfly Study Group Newsletter (pg 8): rECOrd : (Other Organisations? Newsletters) A Biodiversity Information System for Cheshire, Halton, Warrington & Wirral

watsthat · #5 (**permalink**) 06-10-2009, 07:09 PM

I had this specimen today;

..... did a bit of Googling and I think it is the Large Alder Sawfly (C.commatus)

The diagnostic clincher is how many rows of black dots down each side. C.femoratus 1 row, C.connatus 2 rows. However; my specimen is a bit tired looking and ID is not certain but the dots that are discernible seem fairly high up the side of the larva, with the possibility of a lower row in a similar position to Earthdragons pic which seems certain to be Birch Sawfly (Cimbex femoratus).

Hope I`ve italicised correctly

Pete