Spitfire Sawfly Larvae

Description:

About 7cm long. In a group of about 20. Larvae of the Steel-blue Sawfly and the Large Green Sawfly are large (80mm in length) and black in colour with numerous short, white hairs. They have a shiny black head and the tip of the abdomen is yellow.

Habitat:

Eucalypt trees.

Notes:

These are the biggest spitfires I've ever seen! Interestingly they were on the ground at the base of a eucalypt - not on the leaves like I've normally seen. They will eventually turn into a large, stout bodied wasp, dark green in colour with orange/yellow patches on the shoulders and in the middle of the back. They are approximately 25mm in length with a wingspan of 50mm.