Sirex
Appearance
Sirex | |
---|---|
Sirex noctilio | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hymenoptera |
Family: | Siricidae |
Genus: | Sirex Linnaeus, 1761 |
Species | |
see text |
Sirex is a genus of wasps in the family Siricidae, the horntails or wood wasps. They inject eggs with fungal endosymbionts into wood. The fungus is contained in a mycangium which nourishes it with secretions, and in turn it digests wood for the wasp larva.
The genus includes economically important pests; S. noctilio, known simply as the 'Sirex woodwasp' is an invasive species, having spread widely across the world from its original range.[1][2]
Species
- Sirex areolatus (Cresson, 1867)
- Sirex carinthiacus Konow, 1892
- Sirex cyaneus Fabricius, 1781
- Sirex ermak (Semenov, 1921)
- Sirex juvencus (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Sirex noctilio Fabricius, 1773
References
- ^ Sirex Woodwasp – Sirex noctilio. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, 2011.
- ^ Hurley, B. P., et al. (2007). A comparison of control results for the alien invasive woodwasp, Sirex noctilio, in the southern hemisphere. Agricultural and Forest Entomology 9(3), 159–71.
Further reading
- Hajek, A. E., et al. (2013). Fidelity among Sirex woodwasps and their fungal symbionts. Microb. Ecol. 65(3) 753-62.