Pear Slug Sawfly - Caliroa cerasi

Adult is black. Body size is 4 to 6 mm; wing span is 6 to 9 mm. Antennae are 9 segmented, black. Legs are black, brownish in middle only. The wing has a darker stigma. The larvae are black, slug-like and covered in mucus.

Larva, Adult

Adults: unless identified by a known expert you must provide a satisfactory explanation of how it was identified.

Larva: a good image is required plus a note of the host plant.

Associated with various deciduous trees and shrubs including pear, cherry and hawthorn.

Adult - June and July.

The larvae are important pests that eat the leaves of commercial crops such as cherry, pear, and plum trees, leaving behind a skeleton of veins. The larvae cover themselves in green slime, making themselves unpalatable to predators. When the larvae are fully grown, they drop off the tree on the ground and pupate underground. The adult sawfly emerges from the pupal case and climbs from the soil to mate and lays eggs on the leaves of the host plant, completing the lifecycle.

Widespread but poorly recorded in Britain.

Status in Leicestershire and Rutland not known.