rose slug

English

Alternative forms

• roseslug

Noun

rose slug (plural rose slugs)

1. The larvae of various species of sawfly that feed on rose plant leaves.
   • 1840, The Magazine of Horticulture, Botany, and All Useful Discoveries and Improvements in Rural Affairs, page 274:

     A stated meeting was held this day. T. Lee, Esq., proposed to the Society the importance of awarding a small premium for the purpose of inducing cultivators to discover some effectual method of destroying the rose slug, which infests the rose bush.

   • 2013, Loren Nancarrow, Dead Snails Leave No Trails: Natural Pest Control for Home and Garden:

     The rose slug or sawfly is neither a slug nor a fly; actually, it is an insect related to bees and wasps.

   • 2015, Peter Kukielski, Roses Without Chemicals: 150 Disease-Free Varieties That Will Change the Way You Grow Roses:

     Rose slugs are the larvae of sawflies, non-stinging members of the wasp family. Three species are rose pests: the rose slug (Endelomyia aethiops), the bristly rose slug (Cladius difformis), and the curled rose sawfly (Aallantus cinctus).

Hyponyms

• bristly rose slug (Cladius difformis)
• European rose slug (Endelomyia aethiops)
• curled rose slug (Allantus cinctus)