Happy days! The Rose Sawfly (Arge pagana) in the cocoon hatched today. I opened the jar this morning and seeing that the leaves had gone a bit moldy so left the lid off. The next thing I new was that there was a Rose Sawfly flying around the kitchen. I went back and checked my jar and indeed there was a hole in the cocoon. This chap went in on 26th of July and emerged on the 9th August after 14 days pupating.
So the first thing I did was scoop it up and place it back on its cocoon for some publicity shots and then released it into the wild (my back garden). It could fly right away and made a bee line to the rose bush of its birth. Once there it landed and cleaned its wings (above) it went for a walk around the rose bush, fly occasionally and basked in the sun.
Within a minute another Rose Sawfly arrived! I spotted my one doing this. It can't be egg laying yet so it must be the laying of chemical messengers to potential mates. They grow up so fast!
Within a minute another Rose Sawfly arrived! I spotted my one doing this. It can't be egg laying yet so it must be the laying of chemical messengers to potential mates. They grow up so fast!
One last thing of note, it turns out that I got the species wrong before. This is Arge pagana.
Thank you very much for sharing your photo and information. Now I know the species name of the pest damaging my roses.
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