Sawfly Hub
There is a dearth of resources for identification of Australian sawflies by the amateur naturalist. Accurate species identification generally requires a search of the primary literature, which for a variety of reasons, is only readily accessible to professional taxonomists.
To address this problem, I have developed a suite of resources to assist the identification of sawflies from photographs taken in the field or from an insect in the hand.
What I mean by a sawfly
For the purposes of these identification pages, I am defining sawflies as members of the superfamily Tenthredinoidea. This taxon includes four families of native Australian sawflies - 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 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.
There are 161 described species of Australian sawflies. How do you identify an individual sawfly within this large number of candidates?
Subfamily identification
Find the row in the matrix below that is the best match to the combination of features in your sawfly.
All of the structures referred to in the matrix above are shown in photos on the “Sawfly anatomy” page. You don’t need to see all of these features - only enough of them to place that insect in one of the subfamilies.
From subfamily to genus: Euryinae & Perginae
For these two subfamilies, the largest of the family PERGIDAE, the following matrices will help you find the genus of your sawfly.
Click image to open/download latest version as a pdf (<2MB)
Click image to open/download latest version as a pdf (2.6MB)
The other PERGIDAE subfamilies and the other sawfly families (TENTHREDINIDAE, ZENARGIDAE, ARGIDAE) have a relatively small number of genera. These are listed in the links below.
From genus to species
Matrices and other tools to identify individual species within each genus.
Background to matrix development
The central tool used for species identification is the matrix - a table listing key distinguishing anatomical features of sawfly taxa at subfamily, genus and species levels.
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.
Sawfly body parts
To use the matrices, it is necessary to have some familiarity with sawfly anatomy and terminology.
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.
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.