Cephus cinctus

Cephus cinctus, also known as wheat stem sawfly, is a slow flying, yellow and black coloured, destructive pest found mainly in western North America.

Natural History
Belonging to the superfamily of Cephoidea, the wheat stem sawfly represents a distinct member of the family called Symphyta (Robertson et al. 2018). . They appeared after the early branching of eusymphytan families during the hymenopteran radiation that eventually would form the base of the order Hymenoptera (Robertson et al. 2018).

Habit and habitat
The adult fly grows to a length of 7 to 12 mm.  Males are considerably smaller than females. However, they are delicate and short lived.

Host
The species has a wide host range that includes all large-stemmed grasses except oats, Avena sativa L.
(Macedo et al. 2005a).

Distribution
It is known as a chronic pest in Northern Great Plains of the United States and also an important pest of wheat in the Canadian Prairies. The species is distributed widely in various regions of the USA and Canada.

References

Further reading

Category:Sawflies
Category:Hymenoptera of North America
Category:Insects described in 1872