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Sericoceros mexicanus
I noted this (and numerous other identical) sawflies all laying/guarding eggs in similar clusters on the underside of leathery leaves on a small tree (seagrape, Coccoloba uvifera) on the West End of Roatan Island, Honduras. The sawfly was identified with the help of Eric Eaton (Kaufman Guide to Insects of North America) and Dave Smith (Smithsonian entomologist, retired)
On the underside of leaves on the Seagrape tree (Coccoloba uvifera), within about 100 ft of the ocean.
Dave Smith’s comment: Argidae: A sawfly, Sericoceros mexicanus (Kirby). For a good article on this, see: Ciesla, W. M. 2002. Observations on the life history and habits of a tropical sawfly, Sericoceros mexicanus (Kirby) (Hymenoptera: Argidae) on Roatan Island, Honduras. The Forestry Chronicle 78(4): 515-521. The plant must be seagrape, Coccoloba uvifera. Females lay eggs in clusters on the leaf, and stand guard over the eggs until they die. Larvae feed on the leaf edges. Sericoceros mexicanus occurs from southern Mexico to Panama. Other species of the genus are found from Mexico to S. Amer. and in Puerto Rico.
Spotted on Sep 8, 2007
Submitted on May 29, 2017
11 Comments
Thank for the congrats, Paul, Mark, Leuba and Kostas - and for the welcome and advice, AntónioGinjaGinja. I have been so impressed with the warmth and collegiality and enthusiasm evident here on Project Noah! What a wealth of information and beauty!
Congratulations!
Congratulations yahk66 - great spotting !
You're very welcome Karen! Thanks for joining the mission and adding your spotting to it.
Fantastic spotting. Congratulations.
Hello yahk66 and Welcome to the Project Noah community!
Great way to began :-)Congrats on the well deserved SOTD and thanks for sharing.
We hope you like the website as much as we do. There are many aspects to the site and community. The way to get started is to read the FAQs at http://www.projectnoah.org/faq where you can find all the tips, advice and "rules" of Project Noah. You, like the rest of the community, will be able to suggest IDs for species that you know (but that have not been identified), and make useful or encouraging comments on other users' spottings (and they on yours).
There are also "missions" you can join and add spottings to. See http://www.projectnoah.org/missions . A mission you should join is the http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/2166... to chose the best wild photo of 2017,only the spottings added to that mission are eligible.Note that most missions are "local". Be sure not to add a spotting to a mission that was outside of mission boundaries or theme :) Each mission has a map you may consult showing its range. We also maintain a blog archive http://blog.projectnoah.org/ where we have posted previous articles from specialists from different geographical areas and categories of spottings, as well as wildlife "adventures".
So enjoy yourself, share, communicate, learn. See you around :)
Excellent find and image.
Wow! Thank you Sergio, Daniele and Jim. I never expected this...Day 1 for me so I haven't even learned the ropes yet! I am very honored...
Congratulations for this excelent spotting and SOTD, Karen.
Congratulations and welcome to Project Noah Karen, this great series is our Spotting of the Day!
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Great photos...and really nice summary!