Hoplocampa brevis (Klug)
Taxonomic placing: Insecta, Holometabola, Hymenoptera, Tenthredinidae.
Common name: Pear sawfly, cherry sawfly.
Geographical distribution: Mediterranean basin, Iran, England, Switzerland, Austria and a few reports from North America.
Host plant: Pear.
Economic importance: The pest may reduce pear yield by up to 80%, due to the premature drop of infested fruit.
Morphology: The adult is red-yellow, about 4-5 mm in length, legs yellow. The larva is up to 12 mm long, with a gray-yellow body and a red-brown head.
Life cycle: This pest has only a single annual generation. The adult, which reproduces mainly by parthenogenesis, appears in late March to early April, laying single eggs, up to 40 per female in the flower buds. The emerging larvae invade the young fruit, their feeding causing the sepals to wither. The larva burrows into the fruit, later leaving it to attack another pear and sometimes more. The mature larva drops to the ground wherein it remains in diapause until spring, when it pupates.
Management
Horticultural methods: Disking or plowing the soil between tree rows in autumn reduces the pest populations that overwinter in or under fallen leaves.
Monitoring: Examination of young pear fruitss, at 3-days’ intervals, for larval entry holes and for frass excreted by the pest during the period of fruit setting, can indicate the start of infestation.
Chemical control: Pesticides should be applied in the spring after the mass appearance of adults, and immediately after blossoming.
Biological control: Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) have successfully been used in Italy to control the pest larvae in the soil.
References
Dustan, G.G. 1966. Occurrence in Ontario of the pear fruit sawfly Hoplocampa brevis (Klug). Canadian Entomologist 98: 267.
Curto, G., Vergnani, S. and Reggiani, A. 2006. Effectiveness of entomopathogenic nematodes in the control of sawfly, Hoplocampa brevis (Klug), on pear orchards. Summit Workshop COST 850 “Biocontrol Symbiosis”.