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Latin Name: Polycaon stouti
Common Name: Black Polycaon
Latin Family Name: Bostrichidae
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:Native to western North America, where it is present along the Pacific Coast states and into Arizona.
Biology:
This is related to the Lead Cable Borer and Bamboo Borer, but is very different in appearance. It is a large beetle that attacks primarily softwoods, especially plywood products, but also has been found emerging from oak furniture, leaving a round exit hole about ¼ inch in diameter. It may attack plywood in storage, and then be built into homes or furniture, and generally does not re-infest the wood once it emerges as an adult. On several occasions it has been found in large numbers on hospital roofs or in chemical warehouses, possibly attracted by odors at those sites. The development from egg to adult may take a year or up to several years to complete. It is a common
Latin Name: Xestobium rufovillosum
Common Name: Deathwatch Beetle
Latin Family Name: Anobiidae
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:Possibly European in origin, as it is a much more common and more important wood problem in those countries. It is also present in much of the United States, although not commonly, and is rarely found along the west coast.
Biology:
The deathwatch beetle is named for the habit of the adults of rapidly tapping their heads on a wood surface as a means of communicating with a potential mate. Adults emerge in the spring, mate, and die within a few weeks after this. Females lay around 50 eggs, 3 or 4 at a time, into pores, cracks, or holes in the wood, and these beetles will commonly re-infest the same wood they emerged from. Under good conditions the life cycle will be completed in one year, but examples have been seen where it took up to 10 years for the complete cycle from an egg to an adult beetle.
Latin Name: Smodicum cucujiforme
Common Name: Flat Oak Borer
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:This is a native species in the eastern United States.
Biology:
This beetle can be found commonly in the eastern half of the United States. It infests various kinds of hardwood trees such as oak, hickory, and maple, usually feeding in the dry heartwood of the tree. It also is known to infest hardwoods in storage or in structures, and thus becomes a potential re-infesting pest of wood, or it may also be built into the home with infested lumber. The female deposits eggs in crevices of exposed wood on dead trees or on lumber. The life cycle from egg to adult may be 1 or 2 years, depending on the region it occurs in.
Identification:This is a small beetle for this family, with adults only about 3/8 inch long. They are elongate and narrow with the wings parallel sided, and have a flattened appearance from top to bottom.
Latin Name: Anobium punctatum
Common Name: Furniture Beetle
Latin Family Name: Anobiidae
Other Names: Wood worm
Pest Details
Origin:Possibly European in origin, but it is found in many countries in temperate climates, including the United States, New Zealand, and England, and it is a much more severe pest in England and other European countries than in the U.S. It is, however, a very common problem in east coast cities and in northern California.
Biology:
The furniture beetle prefers wood with a high moisture content, and is capable of infesting both hardwoods and softwoods, with older fir timbers such as subflooring commonly infested. Eggs do not hatch well at a relative humidity below 60%, and in an indoor setting the life cycle may extend to two or three years from egg to adult, possibly as a result of the low humidity. In an outdoor setting it normally completes in a single year. The beetles can
Latin Name: Buprestis aurulenta
Common Name: Golden Buprestid
Other Names: The larva is the “flat headed borer”
Pest Details
Origin:Native to North America
Biology:
These large beetles infest primarily softwoods such as fir, and are particularly found in Douglas Fir, which the larvae feed on only after the tree has died. They are commonly built into structures in infested lumber, as the milling process does not kill the beetle larvae already living in the dead tree. They will not re-infest structural wood members, but many cases have been seen where the adult delayed emergence from the wood for up to 50 years.
Identification:Adult beetles are large and brightly metallic green on top, and either green or copper on the ventral side. They may be almost an inch long, with short, beaded antennae and a flattened boat-shaped body. The larvae are distinct and are referred to as flat-headed borers due to the
Latin Name: Scobicia declivis
Common Name: Lead Cable Borer
Latin Family Name: Bostrichidae
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:Native to North America, and most common in the western states.
Biology:
These beetles may invade living trees as well as dead trees and lumber made from both hardwoods and softwoods. Their name is derived from their habit of boring into telephone cables, possibly to access the paper sheathing and insulation within. Females bore into solid wood to lay their eggs, and upon completion of a life cycle they may re-infest the same wood repeatedly, or attack other suitable woods nearby. There is a single generation per year, with the larval stage lasting up to 9 months. The beetles have been known to cause severe damage to wine casks, hardwood paneling and floors, and sheetrock which they emerge through from the wall members within the wall voids. They go after corks in wine bottles,
Latin Name: Xylotrechus nauticus
Common Name: Nautical Borer
Latin Family Name: Cerambycidae
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:Native to the western United States.
Biology:
This is a common beetle in dead hardwood trees, and commonly occurs in homes when infested firewood is brought into the house in the fall. The warming of the wood signals springtime to the beetles in the wood, and they may emerge in large numbers. They do not infest structural wood members once they appear. There is one generation each year, and the pupa stage over-winters. It is not a pest species.
Identification:The adult beetle is about ¾ of an inch long, and is dark gray with two wavy white lines across each elytron. The prothorax is narrow in front and much wider at the back, and the elytra are much wider at the anterior than the posterior. It has long legs and long antennae, and looks much like a large, black spider as
Latin Name: Arhopalus productus
Common Name: New House Borer
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:This beetle is a native insect in western North America.
Biology:
The common name of this beetle is a possible cause of confusion with the unrelated “Old” house borer that is found in the eastern U.S. The “New” house borer is a western species found from Canada south to California and most western states, and it feeds only on dead or dying trees. However, because lumbering practices often salvage trees recently killed by fire or bark beetles the New house borer may be present in lumber used in construction. Females deposit eggs only on the bark of a standing tree or a log, and do not reinfest structures once they have emerged. It takes 2 years for the larva to complete its growth in the wood, but once the wood dries the larva cannot survive. Only those larvae that are nearly full grown and can pupate will survive in the milled lumber,
Latin Name: Hylotrupes bajulus
Common Name: Old House Borer
Latin Family Name: Cerambycidae
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:Apparently native to Europe, where it may infest up to 50% of the homes in some areas. It now is found on most continents of the world including North America, where it is found along the eastern seaboard states from at least New York, south and along the Gulf Coast to Texas. It may be found as far west as Minnesota and in many other states east of the Mississippi River.
Biology:
This is one of the only members of its family which, in the United States, will re-infest structural wood members. Other species are only present if they were in lumber used in the construction. The Old house borer feeds on coniferous woods such as fir or pine, and will attack dry, seasoned woods, in older houses as well as new, although newer wood is preferred by the beetles. It usually will be built in with
Latin Name: Trichocnemis spiculatus
Common Name: Pine Sawyer
Other Names: Timberworm, Ponderous beetle
Pest Details
Origin:This is a native beetle in western North America.
Biology:
This is one of the largest beetles in North America and is common is western states, with Ergates spiculatus the more common of the two species in the genus. It feeds on only dead trees, the females depositing eggs on the bark shortly after a conifer dies. The larva may require 5 years or longer to complete its development and become the adult beetle, giving it plenty of time to end up in lumber salvaged from trees killed by fires. It is not uncommon, then for these enormous beetles to emerge from pine boards such as wall studs or sub-flooring, easily boring through any other materials between them and the outside world. They cannot re-infest structural wood, but large numbers may cause loss of structural integrity in load-bearing wood. They