Urocerus gigas

Urocerus gigas (giant woodwasp, banded horntail, greater horntail) is a species of sawfly, native to the Palearctic realm and North Africa. Adults are usually between 10 and 40 millimetres (1⁄2 and 1 1⁄2 inches) in length.[1]

Larva

Urocerus gigas
Female ovipositing
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Hymenoptera
Family:
Siricidae
Genus:
Urocerus
Species:
U. gigas
Binomial name
Urocerus gigas
Synonyms

Subspecies:

  • U. gigas gigas
  • U. gigas taiganus

U. gigas is a wood-boring insect which 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.

Urocerus flavicornis was once considered a subspecies of gigas, but is now a separate species .

References
  1. "Giant Woodwasp- Urocerus gigas". Massnrc.org. 2008-02-25. Retrieved 2014-06-18.

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