Sawfly Fossil from Miocene Period Discovered in Australia
Top Stories Tamfitronics Paleontologists say they have discovered the first fossil of an Australian sawfly species, Good newsfound at McGraths Flat in central New South Wales.Good news. Image credit: Michael Frese, University of Canberra.Good news lived in Australia during the Miocene period, between 11 and 16 million years ago.This species belongs to Pergidae, a moderate-sized family of sawflies occurring in the western hemisphere and the Australasian region.“Despite the name, sawflies are not flies but a type of wasp, with spitfires the most widely recognized group of sawfly species in Australia,” said CSIRO paleontologist Dr. Juanita Rodriguez and colleagues.“They are called sawflies because they have a saw-like ovipositor that is used to lay eggs, and they could be mistaken as flies because they lack a typical wasp waist.”“The sawfly family Pergidae includes 441 species, of which...