Sirex

Summary

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.

Sirex
Sirex noctilio
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Siricidae
Genus: Sirex
Linnaeus, 1760
Species

see text

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 edit

  • Sirex abietinus Goulet, 2012
  • Sirex areolatus (Cresson, 1868)
  • Sirex behrensii (Cresson, 1880)
  • Sirex californicus (Ashmead, 1904)
  • Sirex carinthiacus Konow, 1892
  • Sirex cyaneus Fabricius, 1781
  • Sirex ermak (Semenov, 1921)
  • Sirex hispaniola Goulet, 2012
  • Sirex juvencus (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Sirex longicauda Middlekauff, 1948
  • Sirex mexicanus Smith, 2012
  • Sirex mongolorum (Semenov)
  • Sirex nigricornis Fabricius, 1781
  • Sirex nitidus (Harris, 1841)
  • Sirex nitobei Matsumura
  • Sirex noctilio Fabricius, 1793
  • Sirex obesus Bradley, 1913
  • Sirex sinicus Maa
  • Sirex tianshanicus (Semenov)
  • Sirex torvus Harris, 1779
  • Sirex varipes Walker, 1866
  • Sirex vates Mocsáry
  • Sirex xerophilus Schiff, 2012

References edit

  1. ^ Sirex Woodwasp – Sirex noctilio. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, 2011.
  2. ^ 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 edit

  • Hajek, A. E., et al. (2013). Fidelity among Sirex woodwasps and their fungal symbionts. Microb. Ecol. 65(3) 753–62.