Arge metallica

Sometimes placed in the genus Spinarge.

An extraordinary record by all accounts, and total beginner's luck. This is my earliest record of any sawfly and was not identified at the time. Given that most sawflies need a specimen to identify and for this I just had a single photograph, I nearly didn't bother looking at it when reviewing my sawfly records in November 2021. But there was enough in the photo for me to identify it to genus Arge (fused antennal segments and closed marginal cell) and although it looked really distinctive (with its orange fused antennal segments) I struggled to put a name to it. So I contacted Andy Musgrove who advised that it looks like Arge metallica, a species I had disregarded as it's not supposed to occur in Britain (it's in Ireland). As Andy put it... "as rare as rocking horse poops."

Arge metallica, Bawdeswell Heath (Norfolk, UK), 7th June 2014