Club Horned Sawfly or Scabious Sawfly Abia sericea

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Classification Order: Hymenoptera Family: Symphyta

Length . Length 10 to 12 mm.

Phenology Usually seen between spring and summer

Identification

Like All Cimbicid Sawflies these are e robust insects recognisable by their five segmented antennae ending in distinctive 'clubs'.

Adult Abia sericea are spectacular metallic green-golden insects with fat bodies and shading on the wings.

Similars

There is one similar species, Abia candens, which is rare.

Life Cycle The larva can be found sitting openly on Scabious (usually Devil's-bit Scabious) plants between June and September. This is a large species with larvae up to 30 mm in length, which can adopt a sandy background colour when fully grown whilst retaining the distinctive black and yellow spots.

Habitat Often associated with Devil's-bit Scabious

By Hectonichus (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons

 

Sawfly - Abia sericea 18-07-17

IMAGE GEOFF FOALE (C) 2017