Identification tools for Australian sawflies

Note: This is a “work in progress”. New sections dealing with additional taxa will be added progressively and changes to existing sections will be made as I discover additional relevant information.

There is a dearth of resources for identification of Australian sawflies by the amateur naturalist. Accurate species identification generally requires trawling through the primary literature, which, for a variety of reasons is only readily accessible to professional taxonomists.

To address this problem, I have produced a series of taxonomic tools, which will be progressively posted on this and other pages. I hope that these will assist identification of sawflies from photographs taken in the field or from an insect in the hand.

These tools include the following.

Labelled images of adult sawflies to aid recognition of various body parts, particularly those used in species descriptions – Part 1 of this page
Matrices, listing key distinguishing anatomical features of sawfly taxa at subfamily, genus and species levels – Part 2 of this page
I have constructed these matrices using information in original descriptions and drawings and later taxonomic revisions in the primary literature - not from examination of iNaturalist photos.
The most recent catalogue of the Pergidae by Schmidt and Smith (2006) has greatly assisted the task of tracking down the scientific literature dealing with Australian sawflies. In addition, Stefan Schmidt’s website Pergidae of the World provides an abundance of key information about these insects - their diversity, distribution, morphology, classification and biology.
Images of individual species, added after the matrix for the genus to which they belong – located on each of the relevant ID pages.
These images are from several authoritative sources:
- drawings from original descriptions or later revisions of species in the taxonomic literature
- photos of type specimens in museums
- photos of BOLD specimens
  For some species, I have included after these images a table comparing iNaturalist observations with a summary of the original descriptions.

You may want to return to this page from linked pages. To do so, click on the BACK TO SAWFLY HUB button at the top of those pages.

First, what I mean by a sawfly

For the purposes of these identification tools, I am defining sawflies as members of the superfamily Tenthredinoidea. This taxon includes four families of native Australian wasps - Pergidae, Argidae, Zenargidae and Tenthredinidae. All members of these families have a saw-like ovipositor, from which they get their common name.

Another feature commonly used to separate sawflies from other wasps is the lack of a waist. However, there are several superfamilies of wasps, related to the Tenthredinoidea, which share this same character. Two of these - Xiphydrioidea (wood wasps) and Orussoidea (parasitic wood wasps) - include Australian native species (14 Xiphydrioidea, 13 Orussoidea). I am not dealing with these here.

Part 1: Body parts of adult sawflies

Of necessity, taxonomic papers contain many technical terms for describing the details of various body parts. Few people, apart from specialists in the field of study will be familiar with this jargon, making species descriptions difficult to interpret.

The aim of this section is to help the non-specialist reader become familiar with names of sawfly body parts. The following pair of drawings shows some of these. The sawfly illustrated, Aglaostigma quattuordecimpunctatum is a North American species, but the same naming system is used for Australian sawflies.

from Goulet & Huber 1993 “Hymenoptera of the World: An Identification Guide to Families”.

The labelled photos which follow aim to help you recognise these and other body parts in the actual insect. I have used four different representative Australian sawfly species for this purpose – Lophyrotoma interrupta, a member of the subfamily Pterygophorinae, Pseudoperga ferruginea and Perga dorsalis, both members of the subfamily Perginae and Clarissa sp., a member of the Euryinae.

All of these images, with the exception of Figs. 4D, 6, 7 & 8 are either from this Workbook page on our blog or our own or other people’s iNaturalist sawfly observations (see attributions with photos).

Fig. 4 - Names of veins and cells in fore wing of Lophyrotoma interrupta (A, B) and cells of Pseudoperga ferruginea (C) and Clarissa sp. The wing venation is similar in these Pergidae species. However, like all members of the subfamily Pterygophorinae, Lophyrotoma interrupta has 3 cubital cells, whereas Pseudoperga ferruginea, like all members of the subfamily Perginae, has 4. The fore wing of Clarissa, like other members of the subfamily Euryinae, has an additional cell - anal cell - at the bottom edge of the wing.

Different naming systems - some of which are shown below - have been used for the wing veins and cells of sawflies over the years.

Fig. 5 - Sex and species differences in antennal structure. Lophyrotoma interrupta like other species in the subfamily Pterygophorinae has pectinated antennae. The pectens are much longer in the male than the female (compare A and B). Members of the subfamily Perginae, such as the female Pseudoperga ferruginea in C, have simple antennae, lacking pectens and with fewer segments. The last segment is often expanded to form a club in these sawflies. The total number of antennal segments - the number of repeating units in the flagellum plus the pedicel and the scape/funicle - is often given in species descriptions.

Fig. 6 - The side view of this female Perga dorsalis sawfly shows a number of structures that are often used in sawfly species descriptions. The arrows in Fig. B show a spine on the mid and hind tibiae, a feature of all subfamilies in the family Pergidae, except for Pterygophorinae and Euryinae. Photo kindly provided by Reiner Richter (CC-BY) from this iNaturalist observation.

Fig. 7 - dorsal (A, B) and dorso-lateral (C, D) views of a female Perga sp. (probably Perga affinis) showing same structures as in fig. 6. Photos kindly provided (CC-BY) by Reiner Richter from this iNaturalist observation.

Fig. 8 - lateral (A) and anterior (B) views of Pergagrapta spinolae, dorso-lateral view (C) of Pergagrapta polita and dorso-lateral view (D) of Xyloperga lalage showing additional structures on the head and thorax. Photos kindly provided (CC-BY) by Reiner Richter - A. & B. from this iNaturalist observation, C. from this one, and D. from this one.

Part 2: Identifying an adult sawfly - step by step

There are 152 described species of native Australian sawflies, distributed among 4 families – Pergidae, Argidae, Zenargidae & Tenthredinidae. How do you identify an individual sawfly (I’ll call this ‘your insect’) from this large number of candidates?

I have divided the process of identification into a series of steps.

Step 1: decide which sawfly subfamily your insect belongs to.

Step 2: determine the genus of your insect. For the smaller subfamilies (with 3 or fewer genera), this step may take you all the way to species identification.

Step 3: for the larger subfamilies you will need to go to step 3 for a species level identification.

On this and other, linked web pages I provide identification guides - matrices - for each of these 3 steps. Remember, this is a work in progress. Guides for particular groups will be added to these pages progressively and the full collection of guides for your insect may not be available right now.

However, after working through this first page you should be able to at least determine the subfamily of your insect.

Step 1: What is the subfamily of my insect?

The matrix below covers the subfamilies of all four of the native Australian sawfly families - Pergidae, Zenargidae, Argidae, and Tenthredinidae. To determine which of these subfamilies your insect belongs to, find the row that is the best match to the combination of features in your insect. All of the structures referred to in the matrix are shown in photos in the “Body Parts of Adult Sawflies” section above. You don’t need to see all of these features - only enough of them to place your insect in one of the subfamilies.

Footnote:

Bear in mind that this taxonomic framework - like all taxonomy - is subject to review. A genus that is currently placed in a particular subfamily may later be shown to be more closely related to a different subfamily, or indeed a different family.

For example, a combined morphological and molecular analysis of the Pergidae (Schmidt and Walter, 2014) supports removal of the Pterygophorinae, Pergulinae, Euryinae, Pteryperginae and Styracotechyinae from the Pergidae and their placement in a new family, Pterygophoridae. This family would include a number of South American sawfly subfamilies. However, the authors of that study believe that more taxa need to be included in the analysis before changes to the current classification are warranted.

Step 2: Guides to genera of select subfamilies.

Perginae (click to open pdf)

Pterygophorinae (click to open species page)

The other 5 Pergidae subfamilies (click to open species page)

Euryinae (click to open pdf)

Sterictiphorinae (click to open species page)

Arginae (click to open species page)

In some cases, you may be able to place your insect in a particular genus with confidence by using one of these subfamily matrices. Having done so, move to Step 3 and select the species guide for that genus.

But sometimes you may not be able to decide between two candidate genera in that subfamily. In that case, look through the species guides for both of those genera. This may make it clear to which of those genera your insect belongs.

Step 3: Guides to species of select genera

Perga (click image to open species page)

Pergagrapta (click image to open species page)

Pseudoperga (click image to open species page)

Xyloperga (click image to open species page)

The other Perginae genera (click to open species page)

Eurys (click image to open species page)

Neoeurys (click image to open species page)

Clarissa (click image to open species page)

The other Euryinae genera (click image to open species page)

Zenargidae (click image to open species page)

Tenthredinidae - native and introduced (click image to open species page)

References:

Benson, R.B. (1938) “On the classification of sawflies (Hymenoptera Symphyta)” Transactions Royal Entomological Society London 87: 353-384

Benson, R.B. (1938) “A revision of the genus Pterygophorus Klug, sensu lato, with the description of two new genera (Hymenoptera, Symphyta)”. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1:610-625

Costa, A. (1864) “Aeguisti fatti durante l'anno 1862”. Annuario del Museo Zoologico della Reale Universitá di Napoli 2: 8-138.

Goulet, H. & Huber, J. T. eds. (1993). “Hymenoptera of the world: an identification guide to families”. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada Publication 1894/E. freely available from a variety of sources including https://doi.org/10.1002/mmnd.19950420212

Kirby, W.F. (1882) “List of Hymenoptera, with descriptions and figures of the typical specimens in the British Museum”. Vol. I. Tenthredinidae and Siricidae. London: British Museum, xxviii Biodiversity Heritage Library link

Konow, F.W. (1905) “Familie Tenthredinidae”. In Wytsman, P., Genera Insectorum. Fasc. 29

Leach, W.E. (1817) “The zoological miscellany; being descriptions of new, or interesting animals. Vol. 3”. Shoe-Lane, London: R. and A. Taylor. Biodiversity Heritage Library link

Morice, F.D. (1918) “Notes on Australian sawflies, especially the “Authors' Types” and other specimens in the British Museum of Natural History and the Hope Collections of the Oxford University Museum; with diagnostic synopses of the genera and species, and photographs illustrating their structural characters”. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 66: 247-333 Biodiversity Heritage Library link

Rohwer, S.A. (1910) “Some Australian Sawflies” Entomological News 21:467-474

Schmidt, S. & Smith, D.R. (2006) “An annotated systematic world catalogue of the Pergidae (Hymenoptera)” Contributions of the American Entomological Institute 34 (3), 207 pp. link to this catalogue from Pergidae of the World website

Schmidt, S. & Walter, G.H. (2014) “Young clades in an old family: Major evolutionary transitions and diversification of the eucalypt-feeding pergid sawflies in Australia (Insecta, Hymenoptera, Pergidae)” Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 74: 111-121

This is a workbook page … a part of our website where we record the observations and references used in making species identifications. The notes will not necessarily be complete. They are a record for our own use, but we are happy to share this information with others.