Rhyssa-howdenorum

Guides

• Sirex nigricornis

  black-horned woodwasp, native woodwasp

  Sirex nigricornis is a native North American woodwasp (family Siricidae) that inhabits pine forests in the eastern United States. Unlike the invasive congener Sirex noctilio, this species primarily attacks stressed, dying, or recently dead pines rather than healthy trees. Females possess a prominent ovipositor for drilling into wood and deposit eggs along with a symbiotic wood-decaying fungus. The species serves as host for multiple parasitoids including the nematode Deladenus proximus, which sterilizes female eggs, and the ichneumonid wasp Rhyssa howdenorum.

  woodwaspSiricidaepineforestparasitoid-hostnative-specieschemical-ecologyDeladenus-proximusRhyssa-howdenorumIbalia-leucospoideswood-borersymbiotic-fungus