Information About

Cedar Wood Wasp




  Name Cedar wood wasp
  Regnum Animal ia
  Phylum Arthropod a
  Classis Insect a
  Ordo Hymenoptera
  Subordo Symphyta
  Superfamilia Siricoidea
  Familia '''Anaxyelidae'''
  Genus '''''Syntexis'''''
  Species '''''S libocedrii'''''
  Binomial ''Syntexis libocedrii''
  Binomial Authority Rohwer , 1915


The Anaxyelidae is a Wood Wasp family within the Symphyta , containing only a single living species, '''''Syntexis libocedrii''''', (also called the '''cedar wood wasp''' or '''incense-cedar wood wasp'''), though the family has an extensive Mesozoic fossil record; this species is thus a " Living Fossil ". It has the remarkable behavior of ovipositing only in recently burnt incense-cedar ('' Calocedrus ''), redcedar ('' Thuja '') or juniper ('' Juniperus ''); the wood is often still smoldering when the wasp is laying its eggs, and the larvae develop in the wood.1 It occurs from the mountains of central California to southern British Columbia , but is very rarely seen, except by firefighters.


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