What Is A Horn Tail?

A horn tail is a type of wasp. Some horn tails belong to the family Siricidae in the order Hyemnoptera. They are medium to large sized wasps that have thick, fairly robust bodies and large strong wings. The adults are good and elegant fliers.

Their large, grub-like larvae eat wood during their development and the female lays her eggs in the trunks of dead trees to give her offspring plenty of food once they hatch. This is a lot of effort for her, as it takes about 15 minutes to penetrate one centimetre of wood. The larvae then spend their time digging a long and intricate network of tunnels inside the wood, eating the debris from their efforts.

One of the most common horn tails is the giant wood wasp of the species Uroceros gigas. The male has a dark abdomen and red segments in the middle portion while the female has a reddish yellow abdomen and dark patches in the middle portion.

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