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Sirex is a genus of sawfly in the family horntail, the horntails or wood wasps. Their bodies are black with a dark blue or green metallic reflection with some species having reddish-brown portions.
They inject eggs with fungal into wood. The larvae of Sirex are unable to digest the wood on their own and rely on the fungus for nutrition, either eating the fungus or wood partially digested by the fungus. Female Sirex have a mycangium which is used to carry arthrospores of the fungus.
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.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.
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