Urocerus gigas, the giant woodwasp, banded horntail, or greater horntail, is a species of sawfly native to the Palearctic realm and North Africa. Adults are usually between 10 and 40 millimetres (12 and 1+12 inches) in length.[1]

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

Subspecies:

  • Urocerus gigas gigas
  • Urocerus gigas taiganus

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 (14 and 932 in) in diameter.

Urocerus flavicornis was once considered a subspecies of gigas but is now known to be a separate species.[2]

References edit

  1. ^ "Giant Woodwasp- Urocerus gigas". Massnrc.org. 2008-02-25. Retrieved 2014-06-18.
  2. ^ "Urocerus flavicornis (Fabricius), n. stat". cjai.biologicalsurvey.ca. Retrieved 2024-01-17.

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