Horntails are insects that look like wasps. The adult horntail wasps have a tail like spine projecting from their abdomen. They also have a cylindrical body that lacks a narrow waist. While some horntail species are large, most are small. Female horntails have an extra projection below their abdomen called an ovipositor. This part is used to lay a long egg.
Horntail larvae are white or pale yellow segmented grubs with six tiny legs. They’re rarely visible because they’re busy boring in the woods. They neither sting nor bite; that’s why entomologists don’t classify them as harmful.
Nevertheless, you can keep horntails from infesting wood by moving your firewood storage outside the house. Ensure that you only bring in your firewood if you really need them. Suppose like other homeowners you also suspect an unusual pest problem with these large primitive wasps. In that case, the best thing to do is have experts come in to inspect your home.
These experts can also check if these wood-damaging insects are responsible for it or if they’re causing structural problems.
Horntail wasps
They belong to the Siricidae family, one of the 85 primitive and solitary wasps from the Hymenoptera order. Entomologists also classified them into five various genera. While some are moderately large, others grow about 1.5 inches or 3.75 centimetres in length.
Female horntails drill holes on dead trees with their conspicuous ovipositor. After that, they lay their eggs inside the tree. The horntail larvae would tunnel through the dead tree, feasting on wood-growing symbiotic fungi. Pupation occurs in sawdust and silk cocoons.
Size
Though their size varies according to species, most measure ½ to one and a half inches. The Tremex Columba or pigeon horntail can grow up to five centimetres or two inches, excluding their ovipositor. This is the most prolonged kind among all Hymenoptera.
Colour
Like other wood wasps, they are usually brown or black, often with yellow, orange, or rust markings.
Body type
Horntail wasps have cylindrical bodies that are usually black, blue, or brown with yellow bands or spots. They also have small eyes and strikingly broadheads.
Male vs female
Both male and female horntail wasps are harmless. However, the latter is more massive because they carry two horntails. They use the longer horntail to drill through tree barks or wood and the other as a stringer.
Life Cycle
After finding a host tree, female horntails use their ovipositor to drill a hole through the tree bark. After which, they inject their eggs one by one until they fill up around ¾ inch of the said tree. Typically, what these horntails inject into the trees is not toxic, except for the mucus female Sirex woodwasp introduces. This mucus kills the tree quickly.
After a month, these eggs will hatch and turn into wood-eating, grublike larvae. They will then tunnel through the wood and grow for one to three years before they pupate. The pupation happens in the latter part of summer. This time, these creatures transform into winged adult horntails. They chew the tree bark to get out. After that, the cycle repeats.
Habitat
You can find horntails in any place with trees. While some horntail species lay their eggs in coniferous trees, others do so in hardwood.
Damages Caused by Horntails
Horntails is one of the many kinds of wood-boring insects. As such, their nature suggests they neither sting nor bite. They just drill and inject their larvae into the tree trunk. Plus, they can no longer cause damage to a tree after you take it down. This means that these pests couldn’t regenerate in your household furniture or the studs.
Most horntail species will only show themselves within two to three years after construction. All these mean that they can’t cause that much damage to the wood of trees or your home. Your only problem is female Sirex woodwasps since they inject deadly mucus into the tree trunks, causing them to die prematurely.
Horntail Management
Generally, you don’t need to do anything extreme or extraordinary to get rid of horntails. These wood-boring creatures coexist peacefully with symbiotic fungi. By letting them be, you help wildlife thrive. You also extend the lives of the larvae of other trees.
However, if you’ve been having problems with these wood wasps, the best thing to do is call an expert to guide you through the extermination process. On the other hand, if you want to deal with the matter by yourself, you can spray these kinds of wood-boring insects once they’re visible.
Spraying these wasps as soon as you see them before patching the emergence holes is the only solution to this problem. Treating the lumber within your walls to control or eliminate horntails that are not yet visible is counterproductive, if not impossible.
There are only a few emergence holes and wasps, and they often scatter within the property. With this, there’s a very slim chance for them to cause structural damage to your walls. Experts revealed that if five or more of these wasps appear from a stud, there will likely be enough damage to the stud to replace it.
Suppose you want to exterminate wood wasp larvae that survived milling. In that case, the smartest thing to do is try vacuum fumigation or drying lumber. However, note that this is a costly treatment. Apart from that, milled lumber fumigation in standing buildings, under tarps, and boxcars was never successful.
Did you know?
Did you know that female horntails lay their eggs in trees? The larvae bore into the wood and live in the tree for up to two years, possibly more. They typically migrate to just under the bark before pupation.
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