But they are found in the southern United States.

They're in a group of animals known as the wood borers. Here's something from an internet site I can't re-access about wood:

"Wood \Wood\ (w[oo^]d), a. [OE. wod, AS. w[=o]d; akin to OHG. wuot, Icel. [=o][eth]r, Goth. w[=o]ds, D. woede madness, G. wuth, wut, also to AS. w[=o][eth] song, Icel. [=o][eth]r, L. vates a seer, a poet. Cf. Wednesday.]

Mad; insane; possessed; rabid; furious; frantic. [Obs.]

[Written also wode.]

[1913 Webster]

Our hoste gan to swear as [if] he were wood. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44"