Tenthredo Mesomela
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''Tenthredo mesomela'' is a sawfly species of the family
Tenthredinidae Tenthredinidae is the largest family of sawflies, with well over 7,500 species worldwide, divided into 430 genera. Larvae are herbivores and typically feed on the foliage of trees and shrubs, with occasional exceptions that are leaf miners, stem ...
(common sawflies), subfamily Tenthredininae.


Description

''Tenthredo mesomela'' can reach a length of about . These sawflies have a yellow to apple green body with black head, thorax and upperside of the abdomen, while pronotum and scutellum are yellow. They are distinguished from the very similar species of the genus '' Rhogogaster'' by the position of the eyes and by their black pterostigma ('' Rhogogaster'' species have a green stigma).Naturespot
/ref> The adults can be encountered from May through July feeding on small insects and on nectar and pollen of flowers (especially on
Apiaceae Apiaceae () or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium,'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot, or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering p ...
species). The larvae feed at night on leaves of buttercup ('' Ranunculus'' species) and '' Persicaria'' species (''
Polygonaceae The Polygonaceae are a Family (biology), family of flowering plants known Common name, informally as the knotweed family or smartweed—buckwheat family in the United States. The Botanical name, name is Basionym, based on the genus ''Polygonum'', ...
'').Commanster
/ref>


Distribution and habitat

This species can be found in meadows, roadsides and forest edges in most of Europe.Fauna Europaea
/ref>


References

Tenthredinidae Sawflies described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{sawfly-stub