Sirex

Sirex
Sirex noctilio
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Suborder: Symphyta
Superfamily: Siricoidea
Family: Siricidae
Genus: Sirex
Linnaeus, 1761
Species

see text

Sirex is a genus of wasps in the family Siricidae, the horntails or wood wasps. They inject eggs with fungal endosymbionts into wood. The fungus is contained in a mycangium which nourishes it with secretions, and in turn it digests wood for the wasp larva.

The genus includes economically important pests; S. noctilio, known simply as the 'Sirex woodwasp' is an invasive species, having spread widely across the world from its original range.[1][2]

Species

References

  1. Sirex Woodwasp – Sirex noctilio. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, 2011.
  2. Hurley, B. P., et al. (2007). A comparison of control results for the alien invasive woodwasp, Sirex noctilio, in the southern hemisphere. Agricultural and Forest Entomology 9(3), 159–71.

Further reading

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