European apple sawfly
The European apple sawfly is a member of the same group of insects as bees and wasps. It has been a serious, direct pest of apple in the northeastern United States for many years and its range has gradually expanded southward into Virginia. Adult sawflies are present in orchards through the bloom period and can be monitored using white sticky traps that do not use a sex pheromone but rather are visually attractive. Adults in traps are most readily distinguished by their dark brown to black wings, bright orange thorax and abdomen, large black eyes and yellow legs. The adults shown in the left photo were removed from a trap and placed together on a clean surface. Since these visual traps also capture many other insects, counting the number of sawflies captured requires sorting through the debris on the trapping surface. An experienced eye will, however, readily pick out these pests (there are at least 15 sawflies in photo on right).
