About Tenthredo mesomela Linnaeus, 1758
Tenthredo mesomela is a sawfly species that reaches an adult body length of about 10 to 15 millimetres (0.39 to 0.59 inches). Most of its body is yellow to apple green, while the head, thorax, and upperside of the abdomen are black. Only the pronotum and scutellum are yellow. It looks very similar to species in the related genus Rhogogaster, but can be distinguished by the position of its eyes and its black pterostigma; all Rhogogaster species have a green pterostigma instead. Adults of this species are active from May through July. They feed on small insects, as well as nectar and pollen from flowers, most commonly from species in the Apiaceae family. The larvae of Tenthredo mesomela feed nocturnally on leaves of buttercups (genus Ranunculus) and Persicaria species from the Polygonaceae family. This sawfly occurs across most of Europe, where it inhabits meadows, roadsides, and forest edges.
