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Wheat Stem Sawfly Life Cycle
Wheat stem sawflies have one generation per year with mature larvae overwintering in wheat stubs just below the soil surface. In the spring the larvae change to pupae inside the stub and the adults emerge in June.
The female deposits a single egg per stem with a preference for the uppermost elongating interstem. After the egg hatches, the larva feeds inside the stem until late summer.
As the wheat plant starts to mature, more light penetrates the stem, causing the larva to move downward and away from the light until it reaches the lower parts of the plant close to the surface of the ground. Here the larva cuts a V-shaped groove around and inside the stem, plugs the stub with body wastes to form a chamber in which it hibernates during the winter, and pupates the following May.
For more information see E-680 at http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/plantsci/smgrains/e680w.htm
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