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Aka Great Wood Wasp
Family Siricidae.
Size Up to 40 mm long, including the ovipositor.
Description
Female is black and yellow. The male is smaller with an orange abdomen with a black tip and orange legs.This is really a sawfly The fierce looking ovipositor is used to insert the eggs into small holes in soft pine trunks where the larvae then mature over 2-3 years.
Habitat
Coniferous woodland, but can survive in treated timber, from which they may appear in new houses.
Diet
Despite the fearsome appearance of the females, horntails are harmless. Fly in sunshine from May to October. Males usually fly near tree tops. Females drill into bark and deposit eggs in the trunk. Larvae are almost legless and feed on the timber.
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