Sawflies

In part one, we explored the early evolution of the clade and their place as one of the most basal lineages of holometabolan insect.

And this led us to the Symphyta, the many groups of sawflies and wood wasps that lay their eggs in plants.

Now, in this episode, we'll begin right where we left off by examining the most derived symphytan lineage.

This group is most closely related to Apocrita through a proximal common ancestor, and Apocrita will be the main focus of today's show.

The female wood wasp uses this posterior appendage to slice into soft leaves or herbaceous stem or saw its way into harder cuticle and bark tissue.

This wound in the plant becomes the nesting chamber for the wood wasp's eggs, and when the larvae hatch, they have a readily accessible supply of food all around them.

This close proximity to plants, this life stage spent inside the plant, gives the Symphyta ample opportunity to meet and interact with the other creatures living there in this vegetable substrate.

Among these denizens of the trees and shrubs were various beetles and other big arthropods that laid big eggs, which hatched big larvae.