Skip to main content Skip to main navigation Skip to search

Help for those affected by flood

Visit recovery.gov.au.

Close
Home

Top navigation main

  • News & media
  • Jobs
  • Minister
  • Contact us
Main menu

AWE Main

  • Agriculture and land
    Agriculture and land Building stronger and more sustainable agriculture, fisheries, forestry and land care.
    • Animal health
    • Farming, food and drought
    • Fisheries
    • Forestry
    • Climate change and agriculture
    • Plant health
    • Drought and rural support
    • Mouse infestation advice
    Xylella

    Protect against unwanted plant pests

    Our biosecurity system helps protects us. Everyone has a role in supporting our biosecurity system.

    Find out more

  • Biosecurity and trade
    Biosecurity and trade Lowering biosecurity risks to Australia, and assisting industry to accelerate growth towards a $100 billion agricultural sector by 2030.
    • Aircraft, vessels and military
    • Biosecurity policy
    • Cats and dogs
    • Exporting
    • Importing
    • Pests, diseases and weeds
    • Public awareness and education
    • Trade and market access
    • Travelling or sending goods to Australia
    Brown marmorated stink bug

    BMSB Seasonal Measures

    Australia has strengthened seasonal measures to manage the risk of BMSB.

    View our seasonal measures

  • Science and research
    Science and research Undertaking research and collecting data to support informed decisions and policies.
    • Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES)
    • Our science strategy
    Abares

    ABARES Insights

    Get 'snapshots’ of agricultural, forestry and fisheries industries, or analysis of key issues.

    Find out more

  • About us
    About us We enhance our agricultural industries and trade, and manage the threat of biosecurity risks to Australia.
    • Accountability and reporting
    • Assistance, grants and tenders
    • Contact us
    • Fees and charges
    • News and media
    • Our commitment to you
    • Payments
    • People and jobs
    • Publications
    • What we do
    • Who we are
    Our department has changed

    Our department has changed

    Learn more about our roles and responsibilities.

    Find out more

  • Online services
    Online services We do business with you using online platforms. This makes it easier for you to meet your legal requirements.
Department of Climate Change, Energy, Enviroment and Water

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Biosecurity and trade
  3. Pests, diseases and weeds
  4. Plant pests and diseases
  5. Wheat stem sawfly

Sidebar first - Pests diseases weeds

  • Plant pests and diseases
    • National action plans
    • Barley stripe rust
    • Begomoviruses and vectors
    • Brown marmorated stink bug
    • Citrus canker
    • Cyst nematodes of grains and vegetables
    • Exotic bees
    • Exotic stem borers of sugarcane
    • Exotic tree nematodes
    • Fire blight
    • Fruit flies
    • Giant African snail
    • Guava (eucalyptus) rust
    • Grape phylloxera
    • Spongy moths
    • Hessian flies
    • Huanglongbing
    • Internal and external mites of bees
    • Khapra beetle
      • Urgent actions to protect against khapra beetle
        • Requirements for high-risk plant products to protect against khapra beetle
        • Requirements for other-risk plant products to protect against khapra beetle
        • Requirements for sea containers to protect against khapra beetle
        • Requirements for seeds for sowing to protect against khapra beetle
      • Khapra beetle in imported goods
      • Khapra beetle bulletin
      • The khapra beetle story
    • Karnal bunt
    • Leaf miner
    • Panama disease tropical race 4
    • Plum pox virus
    • Potato cyst nematode
    • Potato late blight
    • Sudden oak death
    • Xylella and exotic vectors
      • International Symposium on Xylella fastidiosa
    • Tobamoviruses
    • Exotic invasive ants
    • Ug99
    • Wheat stem sawfly
    • Zebra chip

Wheat stem sawfly

PLANT PEST

Wheat stem sawfly

Exotic to Australia

Features: two species of exotic wasps that damage wheat
and other cereal crops

Where they’re from: The European wheat stem sawfly
occurs in Europe, parts of Asia, Canada and North America

The wheat stem sawfly occurs in in western parts of the
United States and Canada, Kazakhstan 

How it spreads: Importation of infested crops, straw, straw
contaminated machinery; local spread by flying 

At risk: Grains, grasses

Wheat stem sawfly larvae live and feed inside wheat stems
and can cause huge amounts of damage to cereal crops.
Frank Peairs, Bugwood.org

Report it

Keep it out

European wheat stem sawfly (Cephus pygmeus) and the closely related wheat stem sawfly (C. cinctus) are types of wasps that cause significant damage to winter cereals such as wheat, oats, barley and rye in many parts of the world.

Both species lay eggs in the stems of grasses and grain crops. The larvae (grubs) feed within the stems, filling them with frass (droppings), damaging the plant by cutting off nutrient flow. When the larvae finish feeding they cut the stems off near the ground.

In fields of cereal crops the insect causes big losses. As well as cut stems, damage from feeding causes lodging, which is when wheat stems collapse near to the ground. Lodging makes it difficult to harvest the grains from the flattened crop as well as making the crop more susceptible to other pests and diseases.

Overseas, sawflies are spread as larvae in the stems of infected crops. Cereal straw that is baled as hay or carried on machinery can spread the pest over long distances. Adults can spread locally by flying.

In the southern prairies of Canada and the adjoining parts of the United States, the wheat stem sawfly is a major pest of wheat in spring and winter. Crop losses of up to 80 per cent have been reported. It is feared that the pest would establish and spread and cause similar damage here if it makes it through border controls.

The adult wheat stem sawfly is a black and yellow wasp, 7-12 mm long.
Willow Warren, Department of Agriculture Western Australia, PaDIL.
Damage caused by wheat stem sawfly. Note the cleanly cut stems.
Frank Peairs, Bugwood.org
 

Importing goods

To keep wheat stem sawflies out of Australia, never ignore Australia’s strict biosecurity rules.

Import shipments may need to be treated and certified, so before you import, check our Biosecurity Import Conditions system (BICON).

What to look for

  • The European wheat stem sawfly is a black and yellow wasp about 8-10 mm as an adult. The wheat stem sawfly is very similar, though it can grow a little larger at 7-12 mm.
  • Lodging (fallen stems) and cleanly cut stems in fields of cereals.
  • Grubs and frass (droppings produced by the larvae) in stems.

Where to look

Importers

Illegal importation of infested plants and straw is the most likely way that the pest could enter Australia.

Grain growers

  • Check your property frequently for the presence of new pests and closely examine the cause of any lodging in crops, especially where there are cleanly cut stems.
  • Make sure you are familiar with the symptoms of common pests so you can tell if you see something different.
  • Early in the season, look for small yellow and black wasps on wheat plants along the edges of the field.
  • Resting sawflies will sit on the stem facing the ground. Later, cut stems open to look for the white, S-shaped larvae or the sawdust-like material resulting from their feeding.

Look for signs of wheat stem sawfly in:

  • wheat
  • oats
  • rye
  • barley
  • triticale.

What to do

If you think you’ve found wheat stem sawflies:

  • take a photo
  • contain the bug without disturbing it (this may be as simple as closing the doors on a shipping container or preventing access to a field)
  • collect samples, if it is possible to do so without disturbing the insects.

Report it

Seen something unusual? Report it. Even if you’re not sure.

Read the detail

Plant Health Australia: wheat stem sawfly resources

Contacts

Call 1800 900 090

Contact us online

Report a biosecurity concern

Thanks for your feedback.
Thanks! Your feedback has been submitted.

We aren't able to respond to your individual comments or questions.
To contact us directly phone us or submit an online inquiry

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Please verify that you are not a robot.

Skip

Footer

  • Contact us
  • Accessibility
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy
  • FOI
Last updated: 19 February 2021

© Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.