The cherry slug or pear slug is the larva of the sawfly, Caliroa cerasi. They are not slugs but are a kind of insect of the Family Tenthredinidae. The cherry slug is an important pest that eats leaves of cherry, pear, and plum trees, leaving behind a skeleton of veins. The larvae cover themselves in green slime, making themselves unpalatable to predators. When the larvae are fully grown, they drop off the tree on the ground and pupate underground. The adult sawfly emerges from the pupal case and climbs from the soil to mate and lays eggs on the leaves of the host plant, completing the lifecycle.
Other sources dispute the notion that the females climb the tree to lay their eggs, claiming instead that they fly to the tree. This is an important detail in regards to their control in horticultural circumstances where glues are used to control climbing pests.
Famous quotes containing the words cherry and/or slug:
“I think it was your cherry pies.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“Adrift dissolving, bound for death;
Though lumpish thou, a lumbering one—
A lumbering lubbard loitering slow,
Impingers rue thee and go down,
Sounding thy precipice below,
Nor stir the slimy slug that sprawls
Along thy dead indifference of walls.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)