File: <siricoid.htm> [For educational purposes only] Glossary <Principal Natural Enemy Groups > <Citations> <Home>

HYMENOPTERA, Siricoidea

The superfamily Siricoidea is an ancient group of Hymenoptera, with three families (one extinct) of xylophagous sawflies. The group is prominent in early Tertiary and Mesozoic times, but a number of living taxa remain, including the family Anaxyelidae, which has recently been linked to this group (it was previously placed in the Xyeloidea). The female ovipositor is very long and projects posteriorly, and is used to bore into wood.

Some species in the Orussidae are parasitoids. The family is rare in North America with only 11 species known as of 2010. The adults look a lot like horntails, but they are a much smaller 8-14 mm. The larvae are parasitoids of wood-boring beetles larvae (Buprestidae) and probably other wood-boring beetles and Hymenoptera. They may be related to the Apocrita and sometimes they are classified in that group, or in a separate suborder Idiogastra. The adults take wing in spring to early summer, and may be found on the trunks of dead trees.

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

Riek, E. F. 1955. The Australian sawflies of the family Orussidae (Hymenoptera: Symphyta). Austr. J. Zool. a3: 99-105.