Tenthredinidae is the largest family ofsawflies, with well over 7,500 species worldwide,[2] divided into 430 genera.Larvae areherbivores and typically feed on the foliage of trees and shrubs, with occasional exceptions that areleaf miners, stem borers, orgall makers. The larvae of externally feeding species resemble small caterpillars. As with allhymenopterans, common sawflies undergo complete metamorphosis.
The family has no easily seen diagnostic features, though the combination of five to nine antennalflagellomeres plus a clear separation of the firstabdominaltergum from themetapleuron can reliably separate them. These sawflies are often black or brown, and 3 to 20 mm long. Like other sawflies, they lack the slender "wasp-waist", orpetiole, between the thorax and abdomen, characteristic of manyhymenopterans. Themesosoma and themetasoma are instead broadly joined. The Tenthredinidae are also often somewhat dorsoventrally flattened, which will distinguish them at least from the slendercephids (which, together with the common sawflies, comprise many of the Nearctic species of Symphyta).
Females use their saw-likeovipositors to cut slits through barks of twigs, into which translucent eggs are wedged, which damages the trees. They are common in meadows, and in forest glades near rapid streams. Adults eat little, while larvae feed on foliage of streamside trees and shrubs, especially willow.
Blank, S.M.; Taeger, A. (1998).Comments on the taxonomy of Symphyta (Hymenoptera). pp. 141–174., in Taeger, A. & Blank, S. M. (eds.), Pflanzenwespen Deutschlands (Hymenoptera, Symphyta) Kommentierte Bestandsaufname. Deutsches Entomologisches Institut, Goecke& Evers, Keltern.
Smith, David R (March 2003). "A Synopsis of the Sawflies (Hymenoptera: Symphyta) of America South of the United States: Tenthredinidae (Nematinae, Heterarthrinae, Tenthredininae)".Transactions of the American Entomological Society.129 (1):1–45.JSTOR25078795.
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