The term wood wasp

Wasp

The term wasp is typically defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it, making wasps critically important in natural control of their...

is a colloquial name applied to various unrelated families of Symphyta, whose only shared feature is that the larvae are found in wood. The name is thus applied to "wood wasps" (family Xiphydriidae

Xiphydriidae

Xiphydriidae is a family of wood wasp with the distinct characteristic of having a globose head borne on a long, skinny "neck"; they are also unusual in the habit of boring into dead wood, rather than living trees....

), "parasitic wood wasps" (family Orussidae

Orussidae

The family Orussidae is the only Symphytan group which is parasitic, thus giving them the common name parasitic wood wasps...

), "cedar wood wasps" (Family Anaxyelidae), or, at times, to "horntails" (family Siricidae). The female in the latter two of these groups has a long ovipositor

Ovipositor

The ovipositor is an organ used by some animals for oviposition, i.e., the laying of eggs. It consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages formed to transmit the egg, to prepare a place for it, and to place it properly...

at the back of her body which gives her a dangerous look, but they cannot use them to sting.