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HYMENOPTERA, Siricidae (Siricoidea)

Please refer to the following links for details on this group:

Siricidae = Link 1

The wood wasps or horntails are a group of about 105 non-social species of the family Siricidae, of the order Hymenoptera. They are a type of xylophagous sawfly. This family had been thought to be the only living representative of the superfamily Siricoidea, a group well-represented in early Tertiary and Mesozoic times, but another family Anaxyelidae has recently been linked to this group.

The last tergite of the abdomen has a stout, projecting spike, which gives the group its common name (the ovipositor is usually longer and also projects posteriorly, but it is not the source of the name). Horntails are mostly is brown, blue or black with yellow markings, and they may often reach up to 4 cm long. The pigeon horntail, Tremex columba, can reach up to 5 cm long (not counting the ovipositor), which is among the longest of all Hymenoptera.

Female horntails lay their eggs in trees. The larvae bore into the wood and live in the tree for about 2 years. They regularly migrate to just under the bark before pupation.

References: Please refer to <biology.ref.htm>, [Additional references may be found at: MELVYL Library]