sawfly, common name for insects insect, invertebrate animal of the class Insecta of the phylum Arthropoda . Like other arthropods, an insect has a hard outer covering, or exoskeleton, a segmented body, and jointed legs. Adult insects typically have wings and are the only flying invertebrates.
..... Click the link for more information. of several families of the order Hymenoptera, which also includes the ants ant, any of the 2,500 insect species constituting the family Formicidae of the order Hymenoptera, to which the bee and the wasp also belong. Like most members of the order, ants have a "wasp waist," that is, the front part of the abdomen forms a narrow stalk, called
..... Click the link for more information. , wasps wasp, name applied to many winged insects of the order Hymenoptera, which also includes ants and bees. Most wasps are carnivorous, feeding on insects, grubs, or spiders. They have biting mouthparts, and the females have stings with which they paralyze their prey.
..... Click the link for more information. , and bees bee, name for flying insects of the superfamily Apoidea, in the same order as the ants and the wasps. Bees are characterized by their enlarged hind feet, typically equipped with pollen baskets of stiff hairs for gathering pollen.
..... Click the link for more information. . Sawflies are named for the two sawtoothed blades of the female's ovipositor that are used for slitting leaves or stems in order to deposit the eggs. The insects have two pairs of membranous wings and chewing mouthparts. Both the sawfly and the closely related horntail, whose burrowing larvae are the hosts of the ichneumon fly ichneumon fly (ĭkn
..... Click the link for more information. , lack the characteristic constricted abdomen of other hymenopterans. Sawfly larvae resemble caterpillars; some are leaf and stem borers, many feed on the surface of foliage, and others produce galls gall, abnormal growth, or hypertrophy, of plant tissue produced by chemical or mechanical (e.g., the rubbing together of two branches) irritants or hormones. Chemical irritants are released by parasitic fungi, bacteria, nematode worms, gall insects, and mites.
..... Click the link for more information. . Various species are destructive to larch, spruce, broadleaved fruit and shade trees, shrubs, and grasses. Most species have a single generation a year; they pass the winter either as larvae or as pupae in a cocoon or in some protected place. Sawflies are classified in the phylum Arthropoda Arthropoda (ärthrŏp`ədə) [Gr.,=jointed feet], largest and most diverse animal phylum.
..... Click the link for more information. , class Insecta, order Hymenoptera.

sawfly

Sawfly (Cimbex)

(credit: William E. Ferguson)

Any of numerous, widely distributed insect species in five families (superfamily Tenthredinoidea, order Hymenoptera). Typical sawflies (family Tenthredinidae) are often brightly coloured and are commonly found on flowers; the North American pear slug eats pear, cherry, and plum leaves. The larvae of many species in the other four families also damage trees. Argid sawflies (family Argidae) feed on rose bushes and willow, oak, and birch trees. The North American elm sawfly (family Cimbicidae) feeds on elm and willow. The North American conifer sawflies (family Diprionidae) are common, sometimes serious pests of coniferous trees. The pergid sawflies (family Pergidae) consist of a single genus in South America and Australia.

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