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Bottlebrush Sawfly

Pterygophorus cinctus

Description:

Robust bodied, up to 25mm long, black head, strong orange and black pattern on thorax and banding on abdomen. Notable lack of waist like wasp. Some had feathery antennae and some had knobbly ones. Clear wings with dark veins.

Habitat:

Dozens on the trunk of large maleleuca

Notes:

family: PERGIDAE
subfamily: Pterygophorinae
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/Pterygopho...

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6 Comments

Latimeria
Latimeria 12 years ago

Robust indeed! They look like they're wearing shoulder pads.

MartinL
MartinL 12 years ago

They are likely to be mating but the overlap is curious. Maybe sawflies have an odd physiology. I guessed the male by its smaller size and the more ornate antennae makes sense too. Well done, this is a good study.

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 12 years ago

(the males are identifiable partly from the more complex shape to their antennae)

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 12 years ago

Thanks martin again. I just found it while searching for my next thing which looks like a fly. Maybe I've got that so wrong too. Stay tuned for another laugh...

MartinL
MartinL 12 years ago

These guys confused me until I discovered sawflies. (Yes, those spitfires do grow up.) I had trouble with this spotting http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/785... that looks kind of similar.
Note - shoulder pads are shiny and smooth - sawflies have no narrow waist as other hymenoptera do - antennae are pinnate rather than elbowed (ant-like). What do you think?

Sachin Zaveri
Sachin Zaveri 12 years ago

Nice Shot,

Mark Ridgway
Spotted by
Mark Ridgway

Victoria, Australia

Spotted on Jan 4, 2012
Submitted on Jan 4, 2012

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