Urocerus gigas | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Female ovipositing | |
Scientific classification
![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hymenoptera |
Family: | Siricidae |
Genus: | Urocerus |
Species: | U. gigas
|
Binomial name | |
Urocerus gigas | |
Synonyms | |
Urocerus gigas, the giant woodwasp, banded horntail, or greater horntail, is a species of sawfly native to the Palearctic realm and North Africa. Though they are not wasps, their appearance resembles one due to mimicry. [1] Adults are usually between 10 and 40 millimetres (1⁄2 and 1+1⁄2 inches) in length. [2]
Urocerus gigas is a wood-boring insect that attacks softwoods of freshly felled logs/unhealthy trees. The species lives in discrete tunnels, frequently filled with hard-packed coarse fibrous frass, hard to dig out from tunnels. The tunnels are large, round and discrete, between 6 and 7 mm (1⁄4 and 9⁄32 in) in diameter. Both sexes have a chitinous spike emerging from the abdomen, derived from the last segment, which is found in all woodwasps. [1] However, unlike in true wasps, the projection is harmless and cannot sting.
The second, longer and lower projection in females only is the ovipositor. The ovipositor has saw-like teeth, with which she uses to drill a hole, and then deposit her eggs, into wood. [1]
Urocerus flavicornis was once considered a subspecies of gigas but is now known to be a separate species. [3]
Media related to
Urocerus gigas at Wikimedia Commons
Urocerus gigas | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Female ovipositing | |
Scientific classification
![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hymenoptera |
Family: | Siricidae |
Genus: | Urocerus |
Species: | U. gigas
|
Binomial name | |
Urocerus gigas | |
Synonyms | |
Urocerus gigas, the giant woodwasp, banded horntail, or greater horntail, is a species of sawfly native to the Palearctic realm and North Africa. Though they are not wasps, their appearance resembles one due to mimicry. [1] Adults are usually between 10 and 40 millimetres (1⁄2 and 1+1⁄2 inches) in length. [2]
Urocerus gigas is a wood-boring insect that attacks softwoods of freshly felled logs/unhealthy trees. The species lives in discrete tunnels, frequently filled with hard-packed coarse fibrous frass, hard to dig out from tunnels. The tunnels are large, round and discrete, between 6 and 7 mm (1⁄4 and 9⁄32 in) in diameter. Both sexes have a chitinous spike emerging from the abdomen, derived from the last segment, which is found in all woodwasps. [1] However, unlike in true wasps, the projection is harmless and cannot sting.
The second, longer and lower projection in females only is the ovipositor. The ovipositor has saw-like teeth, with which she uses to drill a hole, and then deposit her eggs, into wood. [1]
Urocerus flavicornis was once considered a subspecies of gigas but is now known to be a separate species. [3]
Media related to
Urocerus gigas at Wikimedia Commons