Powderpost beetle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Powderpost beetles are a group of woodboring beetles in the insect families Anobiidae (anobiid, Anobium punctatum (common furniture beetles), and deathwatch beetles), Lyctidae (true powderpost beetles), and Bostrichidae (false powderpost beetles), all of which fall in the superfamily Bostrichoidea.
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[edit] Name
The term "powderpost" comes from the fact that the larvae of these beetles feed on wood and, given enough time, can reduce it to a mass of fine powder. They are therefore considered pests.
[edit] Life cycle
Powderpost beetles spend months or years inside the wood in the larval stage. Their presence is only apparent when they emerge from the wood as adults, leaving pin hole openings, often called "shot holes" behind and piles of powdery frass below. Shot holes normally range in diameter from 1/32 inch, (0.8 mm) to 1/8 inch (3 mm), depending on the species of beetle. If wood conditions are right, female beetles may lay their eggs and reinfest the wood, continuing the cycle for generations. Heavily-infested woodbecomes riddled with holes and rooms or basements packed with a dusty frass (wood that has passed through the digestive tract of the beetles)
[edit] Target materials
Both hardwood and softwood can be attacked by powderpost beetles, although lyctids only infest hardwoods.
Items that can be infested by powderpost beetles include any wooden tools or tool handles, frames, furniture, gun stocks, books, toys, bamboo, flooring, and structural timbers.
[edit] External links
- Museum pests including powderpoke at the National Park Service.
- Powder post and other wood boring beetles from PestControlCanada.com.
