Larva of a Sawfly Wasp munching an oak leaf

This is a small larva of a Sawfly Wasp ("Symphyta", Hymenoptera) that looks like a caterpillar, but isn't. They are eruciform larvae, which means "caterpillar-like" - with two visible differences, but only one of which you can see here. First, sawfly larvae have simple eye-spots whereas caterpillars usually have a broken ring of multiple eyespots - see this photo and this photo. Second is the difference you can't see in this photo, that sawfly larvae always have six or more pairs of prolegs, while caterpillars have five pairs or fewer - see this photo. Despite being wasps rather than caterpillars, they have a great appetite for foliage - Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia, Fagaceae) in this case. This one is tiny - I never did get a photo of it stretched out, but it's round head is only 310 pixels across in this 1:1 macro shot, which comes to 1.2 mm. (See here for how I figure.) They often seem to have those forked hairs like tiny "rabbit ears" TV antennae. These larvae occasionally become destructive, see this photo. (San Marcos Pass, 14 May 2020)

Taken in: United States / California / Orchams (show map)

Taken on: May 14, 2020

Tags:

eruciform

larva

Symphyta

Hymenoptera

Coast Live Oak

Quercus agrifolia

Fagaceae

San Marcos Pass

Santa Barbara County

California « less

Sets appears in: • All Insects 6 • Wasps and Bees (Hymenoptera) more » • Eggs, Nests, and Grubs « less

Groups appears in: • Insect Photography • Sawfly Larvae

Camera: Nikon D7100, f/11.0, 1/400 sec, 105mm (=157mm), ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D7100
Aperture:	f/11.0
Exposure Time:	0.003 sec (1/400)
Focal Length:	105mm (35mm equivalent: 157mm)
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	+1/3 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Center-weighted average
White Balance:	Manual
Light Source:	Fine Weather
Gain Control:	Low gain up
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Ver.1.01
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