Bug card No. 1669 of 4,939

Figwort sawfly

Tenthredo scrophulariae

It has orange feelers and long yellow legs. It flies slowly and lazily with its legs dangling down.

Lives in

Europe, Turkey and the Caucasus, in meadows where figwort grows

Length

1.1 to 1.5 cm (0.43 to 0.59 in)

Top speed

about 21 km/h (13 mph)

Can it hurt you?

Harmless

What does it eat?

The adults eat small insects and also nectar and pollen. The larvae eat figwort and mullein leaves.

How big is it?

as long as 2.5 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 18 secondsmoves 390 times its own body length every second

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)

Figwort sawfly about 21 km/h (13 mph)

A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)

A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)

cool stuff

Its larva looks like a caterpillar, is white with black spots and has 22 legs.

The larva grows to about 3 centimetres, much longer than the adult.

It is calm and lets you come close to watch it.

Adults often sit on hogweed flowers to feed.

you asked

?What does the figwort sawfly larva eat?

It eats the leaves of figwort and mullein.

Tenthredo scrophulariae (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
Picture by Richard Avery. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip