Spotted Xiphydriid Wood Wasp vs Sirex Woodwasp

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Spotted Xiphydriid Wood Wasp Sirex Woodwasp
Scientific Name Xiphydria camelus Sirex noctilio
Order Hymenoptera Hymenoptera
Family Xiphydriidae Siricidae
Size 12-21 mm 15-36 mm
Habitat Woodlands Farmland
Diet Wood Feeders Fungus Feeders
Regions Europe, Western Asia Europe, Africa, Australasia, South America
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Spotted Xiphydriid Wood Wasp

A slender wood wasp with a distinctively elongated neck-like pronotum and white spots on a dark body. Females bore into hardwood trees to lay eggs.

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Did You Know?

Like horntails, Xiphydria wood wasps carry symbiotic fungi in special pouches called mycangia, which they inject into wood during egg-laying.

Sirex Woodwasp

A large blue-black woodwasp that bores into pine trees to lay eggs. It injects a symbiotic fungus into the wood that feeds its developing larvae.

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Did You Know?

Females carry a special fungus in abdominal glands and inoculate trees during egg-laying.