Thought I Saw A Bee But It Was A Sawfly
I came across a very large, docile and hairy 'bee' this morning. On closer inspection I guessed that it might be a sawfly. I've only seen these a couple of times before. I think this one might be a hawthorn sawfly.
I suppose that they get the name sawfly from their fearsome saw-toothed mouth parts. I've read that the purpose of these is to saw their way out of their highly resilient cocoons and for fighting with other males. I love the knobs on the end of the antennae, they look a bit Disney to me. I've added a pic to extras that shows the jaws more clearly.
PS I'd forgotten that they get the name sawfly from the ovipositor of the female. This is saw-toothed and she uses it to cut into plants so that she can lay her eggs inside. It's the larvae that look like caterpillars that do so much damage to crops. The adults eat pollen.
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