Giant Wood Wasp / Horntail

Urocerus gigas

28-52mm (including ovipositor of female)

Late April to October

A very large and impressive insect which resembles a wasp or hornet, but is completely harmless. The long ovipositor on the abdomen of the female is used to drill into dead or sickly pine trunks where eggs are laid and the larvae develop feeding on the wood for around three years.

The egg laying procedure can take a long time in which the female is pinned to the tree, making it a target for predators. The ovipositors of predated females can be found protruding from the wood.

Males are smaller and lack the ovipositor, and the yellow of the abdomen is often more orange-red or brown. The wings of both species are clouded slightly yellow-brown and in flight the insect could easily be mistaken for a hornet.

Illustration - pigment liner, markers & acrylic, A4.
https://www.facebook.com/ArtOfCarimNahaboo

Legs very bright in female and banded in male, entire thorax covered in fine black hair.

Fairly widespread in areas of suitable pine or mixed woodland, including plantations, although most often encountered in Scotland and Wales and never common. Also seen around sawmills and even emerging from the timber of new houses.

I have only ever seen one specimen, for a second, as it buzzed past my head in mixed woodland, if you know any good sights to see these beasts let me know!
Specimen in the photo was collected by someone in Scotland - found dead in a bucket of water.