- Anaxyelidae
Taxobox
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, 1915The Anaxyelidae is a
wood wasp family within theSymphyta , containing only a single living species, "Syntexis libocedrii", (also called the cedar wood wasp or incense-cedar wood wasp), though the family has an extensiveMesozoic 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. [cite conference | first =N.M. | last =Schiff | title =Insects associated with forest fires in Northern California and Oregon | booktitle =Entomological Society of America meeting | month =December | year =2000 | location =Montreal | accessdate =2007-05-07] It occurs from the mountains of centralCalifornia to southernBritish Columbia , but is very rarely seen, except by firefighters.References
External links
* [http://lib.uky.edu/ETD/ukyento2004t00207/Symphyta/habitus/Anaxyelidae.pdf Photograph] pdf
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.