Eucalypt Insects |
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Leafblister sawfly |
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Phylacteophaga froggatti
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Leafblister sawfly larva (Phylacteophaga froggatti)
? Agriculture Western Australia
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Description
The adult sawflies are small orange and black active wasps, about 5 mm long. The larvae are yellow-cream with dark spots, about 5 mm long when fully grown, slender and somewhat flattened. They feed actively in the leaf.
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Adult leafblister sawfly emerging from blister cocoon
? Agriculture Western Australia
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Life cycle
The eggs are laid either singly or in rows near the leaf midrib and are inserted beneath the leaf surface. Development from egg to adult takes about six weeks; when fully grown, each larva pupates in an oval cocoon beneath a characteristic blister on the leaf surface. The free living adult wasps live only about a week, in warm weather. Activity ceases in cold winter weather, but may continue at a reduced rate throughout a mild winter in Perth. Since 1978 infestation has spread from Perth to country towns including Bunbury, Busselton, Albany, Esperance, Katanning, Narrogin and Geraldton, and is likely to continue in intervening localities where susceptible eucalypts occur. |
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Eucalypt leaf damage
? Agriculture Western Australia
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Damage
The larvae of leafblister sawflies mine the leaves of eucalypts and feed within the upper surface of the leaves, producing rounded blotch mines, which may cover the whole leaf surface, giving it a scorched appearance. Heaviest damage usually occurs to foliage within 6 m of the ground and young trees are worst affected. Older flooded gums may suffer serious damage at heights exceeding 10 m. More than 15 eucalypt species, both introduced and native to Western Australia, are attacked. Of these, rose gum, swamp mahogany, river gum and flooded gum are the most heavily attacked. |
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Parasitic wasp
? Agriculture Western Australia
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Control
A number of parasitic wasp species attack and kill the sawfly larvae and pupae, the commonest of which is a native Western Australian parasite. There is evidence that the effect of these parasites on the sawfly is increasing and spreading with it and in time they may help to reduce its population size. |
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