Overview
The most common introduced species is
Caliroa cerasi
, a pest of cherry, plum and pear trees. The willow sawfly,
Nematus oligospilus
, a pest of willow and poplar trees and also of northern hemisphere origin, was first sighted in New Zealand in 1997 on the North Island between Auckland and Rotorua. By 2004 it had spread throughout both islands. Around this time the species was also recorded in the Australian Capital Territory and surrounding areas of New South Wales, and in the Adelaide Hills region of South Australia.
Description
Members of the family in Australasia can be recognised by their relatively small size (3 7 mm), short neck, fore wing with vein 2r present, and fore tibia with two apical spurs, one of which is cleft.
Distribution
The Tenthredinidae are the largest sawfly family in the world with more than 5,000 species, most of which occur in the northern hemisphere. Like other sawfly families in Australasia, with the exception of the
Pergidae, tenthredinids are poorly represented. There are only nine described species recorded for Australia, and four for New Zealand, with most having been introduced accidentally, feeding o
n northern hemisphere trees. Only two genera are endemic to Australia,
Cheilophleps
and
Senoclidea
.
Further information about the Tenthredinidae can be found in Goulet 1993, Naumann 1991 and Naumann, Williams & Schmidt 2002.