Hoplocampa testudinea (Klug, 1816)
european apple sawfly

Malus domestica, Loenen ge © Arnold Grosscurt
mine
oviposition in a young fruit, just below the calice segments. The young larva makes a gallery just below the epidermis. When the apple grows the epidermis covering the gallery ruptures and an elongated scar is formed. After several days the larva moves to a nearby fruit and bores a gallery down to the ovary, where the seeds are devoured; this is repeated several times. Scarred apples remain in the three, the later bored ones fall off. Overwintering and subsequent pupation in the soil.
host plants
Rosaceae, monophagous
Malus domestica.
phenology
galleries are made in end-April, early May.
BENELUX
all Benelux countries (Fauna Europaea, 2015).
distribution within Europe
almost all of Europe, but not in Ireland and the Mediterranean Region (Fauna Europaea, 2015).
larva
white, head and anal segment shining black
notes
the apple sawfly is an important orchard pest. The frass is moist and has a characteristic smell, distinguishing the damage from that by the codling moth, Cydia pomonella, with dry and odourless frass.
references
Miles (1932a), Petherbridge (1928a), Pschorn-Walcher & Altenhofer (2000a, 2006a), Robbins (1991a), Roques, Cleary, Matsiakh & Eschem (2017a), Vincent, Babendreier, Świergiel ao (2019a).