wood wasp

Moderately large wasp that is black or metallic blue, often with yellow bandings. The long lancelike ovipositor (egg-laying organ) of the female wood wasp is used for drilling holes into wood. Usually a single egg is deposited into each hole, and the larva on hatching bores through the heart wood causing much damage.

Classification The wood wasp is in the family Siricidae, suborder Symphyta, order Hymenoptera, class Insecta, phylum Arthropoda.

The common wood wasp Sirex juvencus is about 30 mm/1.1 in long and blue-black with a metallic sheen. The male may be distinguished from the female by its short triangular spine or horn at the tip of its abdomen and also by a brown-red stripe on its back. The female lays her eggs in conifers.