 Amylostereaceae usually infest only dead or cut down conifer wood . Three species – A. areolatum , A. laevigatum and A. chailletii – may also establish a symbiosis with wood wasps ( Siricidae ) , which beside freshly logged trees also infest living trees and infect them with fungi . Symbioses have been recorded with several species : Sirex noctilio , S. juvencus , S. nitobei , S. cyaneus , S. edwarsii , S. nitidus , and , in Japan , Urocerus antennatus and Xoanon matsumurae . Wasps of the genera Sirex and Urocerus store oidia ( the hypha of fungi split up to spores ) in special abdominal organs . The wood wasps infect trees by splashing a phytotoxic secretion below the bark and at the same time injecting fungal spores into the hole . The secretion weakens the tree and temporarily diminishes its immune system , whereby the fungus can spread along the xylem . The infection with Amylostereaceae fulfill two functions for the wasps : it provides the larvae food , because the white rot softens the wood ; at the same time , the mycelia of the fungi serves as food for the larvae . After the larvae pupate , it absorbs the mycelia of the Amylostereaceae into its body to oviposit together with its eggs . The fungus benefits from the symbiosis as it spreads faster and more effectively than through airborne spores and furthermore does not need to develop fruit bodies . A. ferreum is the only Amylosterum species that has not been associated with any woodwasps . 
