Horntails are stingless wasps that produce wood boring larvae. While they are not typically considered serious pests, an invasive species from Europe ( Sirex noctilio ) poses a threat to pine trees in North America.

Larvae are creamy white in color, cylindrical in shape, and up to 1.25 inches long. Larvae also possess a dark spine or point at the end of their abdomen. Following pupation, adults chew their way out of the host plant through the bark, leaving round exit holes of variable sizes.

2018年12月3日 · The sirex wasp (Sirex noctilio) kills healthy pine trees by introducing a wood-rotting fungus and toxic mucous into the tree. This fungus introduced by the female wasp spreads throughout the tree and provides food for the burrowing sirex larvae.

2021年11月16日 · After they hatch, the larvae of the parasite feed externally and, after consuming the host, they develop into pupae. In this species group, most members of each generation undergo a diapause in the larval stage, once they are completely fed. They pupate in the spring and emerge when the host larvae move towards the tree bark to pupate.

The larvae of Sirex are unable to digest the wood on their own and rely on the fungus for nutrition, either eating the fungus or wood partially digested by the fungus. Female Sirex have a mycangium which is used to carry arthrospores of the fungus.

2016年10月24日 · Woodwasps are large, robust insects, usually 2.5 to 4 cm long. Adults have a spike-like projection at the tail end and females have a long ovipositor under this projection. Larvae are white, legless, and have a distinctive dark spine at the end of the abdomen.

excretes wood digesting enzymes. The larvae then feed on the fungus and digested wood. In some species, especially Sirex noctilio, the female also injects toxic mucus into the tree, which helps the fungus colonize the wood and kill the tree. Depending on the species and the latitude, the woodwasp larva takes from to 3 years to develop

Kiln-dry infected timber to a core temperature above 60 degrees Celsius to prevent larvae from developing. The most effective and widely used biological control agent is the parasitic nematode Deladenus (=Beddingia) siricidicola, which can achieve an almost 100% rate of parasitism of the sirex wasp. Inoculation is achieved by introducing ...

Sirex Woodwasp, Sirex noctilio, larvae are woodborers that tunnel deep into the trunks of all species of pine (Pinus) trees. As the female Sirex woodwasp, Sirex noctilio, prepares to lay her eggs, she secrets a toxic mucus and symbiotic fungus into the tree which work synergistically to weaken, and in some cases kill the attacked tree(s).

Control of sirex wasp is achieved through an integrated combination of activities: 1. Managing pine plantations for reduced susceptibility by thinning on schedule and reducing the number of stressed trees. 2. The historical release of a number of parasitoid wasps which attack sirex larvae whilst in the tree.