Urocerus gigas

Urocerus gigas, the giant woodwasp, banded horntail, or greater horntail, is a species of sawfly native to the Palearctic realm and North Africa. Adults are usually between 10 and 40 mm in length.



Subspecies:
 * Urocerus gigas gigas
 * Urocerus gigas taiganus

Urocerus gigas is a wood-boring insect that attacks softwoods of freshly felled logs/unhealthy trees. The species lives in discrete tunnels, frequently filled with hard-packed coarse fibrous frass, hard to dig out from tunnels. The tunnels are large, round and discrete, between 6 and 7 mm in diameter.

Urocerus flavicornis was once considered a subspecies of gigas but is now known to be a separate species.