Argidae

All images on this website have been taken in Leicestershire and Rutland by NatureSpot members. We welcome new contributions - just register and use the Submit Records form to post your photos. Click on any image below to visit the species page. The RED / AMBER / GREEN dots indicate how easy it is to identify the species - see our Identification Difficulty page for more information. A coloured rating followed by an exclamation mark denotes that different ID difficulties apply to either males and females or to the larvae - see the species page for more detail.

Sawflies

Sawflies are part of the insect order, Hymenoptera, together with bees, wasps and ants. However they are considered to be the most primitive group and form the sub-order - Symphyta. They differ from the bees, wasps and ants in not having a 'waist' and in their wing venation. Most female sawflies possess 'saw-like' genitalia which they use to cut through plant tissue in order to lay their eggs. All sawflies are harmless and cannot sting. In Britain there are around 107 different genera and about 500 species. The actual numbers constantly change as new species are added and others are lost. It is unclear how many can be found in Leicestershire and Rutland as it is a very under-recorded group.

The sawfly species in this gallery are displayed in family taxonomic order according to the UK checklist (Liston 2014). Species within each family are ordered alphabetically.

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Argidae

Many of the species in this family are amongst the most common sawflies encountered. The family is characterised by the fused antennal segments. If the antennae are segmented then it isn't this family!