Larval defense strategies include communal feeding (potential predators have trouble figuring out where one larva stops and the next one starts) and spitting vile liquids from their mouths. One source said that many of the plants that sawflies prefer are chemically defended, which seems to bother the sawflies not at all.
Sawfly larvae are fussy eaters, with many species tied to just a few host plants, and some larvae are considered pests. Sawflies lack the “wasp waist” of other Hymenopterans, and although their larvae are often mistaken for caterpillars, the legs are different. The females’ toothed ovipositor gives them their name. Sawflies – sometimes called “wood wasps,” a common name they share with a few other primitive wasps – are harmless members of the wasp order, Hymenoptera. Wooly alder and wooly beech aphids cover themselves with waxy filaments, and so do the nymphs of some planthoppers (and she had photographed what she thought was a feathery planthopper on her own walnuts last year), but worms? Anyway, two weeks later, she was staring at some of these mystery worms in person. When she got a query recently about the identity of a three-quarter-inch “worm” that had feathery tufts and hung out on the bottom sides of leaves, it didn’t ring any bells. Lots of BOTW pictures are also floating around in Google Images, which results in a steady trickle of correspondence both national and international (the BugLady cheerfully told the folks at a Field Station in India that solving their problem of small aquatic worms and other invertebrates in their tap water was way beyond her pay grade).
Have a question about an insect you’ve found? Visit the Home & Garden Information Center’s resources on insects, or submit your question to Ask an Expert.The BugLady keeps running into herself on-line as she does research, which is scary – makes her think that she ought to know what she’s talking about. If you see chewing damage on black walnut trees, turn the leaves over to look for the woollyworms. Underneath the wax is a green body with a white head. They feed on the leaves of black walnut, butternut, and hickory.
One of the coolest looking sawflies is the butternut woollyworm (Eriocampa juglandis). The bodies of the larvae are covered with fluffy white wax. Sawflies feed together and often curl up when disturbed. A key difference is that sawflies have more than five pairs of prolegs. Sawflies are the larvae of young of wasps (Hymenoptera), whereas caterpillars become moths or butterflies (Lepidoptera). The larvae of sawflies are often confused with caterpillars. Sawflies seem to be in abundance this summer on a lot of plants including hibiscus, roses, and jewelweed, among others.
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