Powderpost beetle
Powderpost beetles are a group of woodboring beetles in the insect subfamily Lyctinae in the family auger beetle family Bostrichidae. These, and other woodboring beetles Anobiidae (anobiid, Anobium punctatum (common furniture beetles), and deathwatch beetles), all fall in the superfamily Bostrichoidea.
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.
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 wood becomes riddled with holes and rooms or basements packed with a dusty frass — wood that has passed through the digestive tract of the beetles. The larvae feed mainly upon starch in the wood.
Target materials
Powderpost beetles can only feed upon the sapwood of certain hardwoods. They cannot attack softwood, or the heartwood of hardwoods. Some hardwoods are naturally immune, if they have low starch content, or if the pore (vessel) diameters are too small for the female beetle's ovipositor which prevents her from inserting eggs into the substrate.
Wood preservatives can be used to treat the wood and prevent beetle infestation. The most common treatment uses boron.
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.
External links
- Museum pests including powderpoke at the National Park Service.
- Powder post and other wood boring beetles from PestControlCanada.com.
