Sirex piceus

Taxonomy

Family: Siricidae
Subfamily: Siricinae
Genus: Sirex Linnaeus, 1760
Species: Sirex piceus Xiao and Wu, 1983
Common names: none

Background

Sirex piceus is a rare black species from China (Xiao and Wu 1983Xiao and Wu 1983:
Xiao G and Jian W. 1983. The siricid wood wasps of China (Hymenoptera, Symphyta). Scientia Silvae Sinicae Memoirs of Forest Entomology 8: 1-29.).

Diagnostic characteristics

See Sirex for genus-level diagnostic characteristics.

Females:

• abdomen abdomen:
  the third and last segment of an insect's body; in sawflies this is usually made up of 11 segments (segments 9 and 10 often fused)
  black with blue-purple metallic reflections (Xiao and Wu 1983Xiao and Wu 1983:
  Xiao G and Jian W. 1983. The siricid wood wasps of China (Hymenoptera, Symphyta). Scientia Silvae Sinicae Memoirs of Forest Entomology 8: 1-29.)
• fore wing fore wing:
  the anterior wing of each pair of wings; usually the largest wing of the pair
  hyaline with a brown tint near the stigmastigma:
  a section of the fore wing at the apex of vein C that is sclerotized, rounded and often darkened
  (Xiao and Wu 1983Xiao and Wu 1983:
  Xiao G and Jian W. 1983. The siricid wood wasps of China (Hymenoptera, Symphyta). Scientia Silvae Sinicae Memoirs of Forest Entomology 8: 1-29.)
• fore tibia fore tibia:
  the tibia of the fore leg
  and tarsustarsus:
  the fifth and last segment of the leg
  black with light colored band at the apexapex:
  the end or most distal area of any structure
  (Xiao and Wu 1983Xiao and Wu 1983:
  Xiao G and Jian W. 1983. The siricid wood wasps of China (Hymenoptera, Symphyta). Scientia Silvae Sinicae Memoirs of Forest Entomology 8: 1-29.)

Male S. piceus is not described.

May be confused with

Female S. piceus can be distinguished from similar species S. vates by the yellow-brown tint near the stigmastigma:
a section of the fore wing at the apex of vein C that is sclerotized, rounded and often darkened
of the fore wingfore wing:
the anterior wing of each pair of wings; usually the largest wing of the pair
(Xiao and Wu 1983Xiao and Wu 1983:
Xiao G and Jian W. 1983. The siricid wood wasps of China (Hymenoptera, Symphyta). Scientia Silvae Sinicae Memoirs of Forest Entomology 8: 1-29.).

Morphological and geographical variation

none recorded

Host associations

unknown

Life history

Female Sirex harbor symbiotic basidiomycete fungus in abdominal glands called mycangia. During oviposition, the site is inoculated with the fungus (Amylostereum spp.), which begins to decompose the surrounding wood. LarvaeLarva:
the immature stage of holometabolous insects
feed on the fungus, and in the process bore galleries through the wood (Schiff et al. 2012Schiff et al. 2012:
Schiff NM, Goulet H, Smith DR, Boudreault C, Wilson AD, and Scheffler BE. 2012. Siricidae (Hymenoptera: Symphyta: Siricoidea) of the Western Hemisphere. Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification 21: 1-305.).

Larvae are creamy white and grub-like in appearance with a dark head capsule. As with adults, larvaelarva:
the immature stage of holometabolous insects
possess a short dorsaldorsal:
of or on the top surface of the body or structure
horn on the posterior end of the body. The larvaelarva:
the immature stage of holometabolous insects
bore galleries into wood, feeding until pupation and subsequent emergence. Throughout this process, the larvaelarva:
the immature stage of holometabolous insects
use their horn to pack the tunnel behind them with sawdust. Emergence holes are perfectly circular. The fungal symbiont is carried in specialized organs in female larvaelarva:
the immature stage of holometabolous insects
that develop into the mycangia after metamorphosis (Schiff et al. 2012Schiff et al. 2012:
Schiff NM, Goulet H, Smith DR, Boudreault C, Wilson AD, and Scheffler BE. 2012. Siricidae (Hymenoptera: Symphyta: Siricoidea) of the Western Hemisphere. Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification 21: 1-305.).

The specific biology of S. piceus is unknown.

Distribution

World: Sirex piceus is found in central China in the province Qinghai (Xiao and Wu 1983Xiao and Wu 1983:
Xiao G and Jian W. 1983. The siricid wood wasps of China (Hymenoptera, Symphyta). Scientia Silvae Sinicae Memoirs of Forest Entomology 8: 1-29.).

North America: not recorded

Map data from: GBIF.org (26 June 2019) GBIF Occurrence Download Sirex

Details about data used for maps can be found here.