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POWDER POST BEETLES
also known as Woodborers. Unlike termite
it is equally important pest, which
destroys wood. The main sign of
infestation is yellowish powder falling
from furniture, which is an excreta of
organism. Larvae bore the wood and live
for years feeding on the wood-creating
network of internal tunnels throughout
the timber and can quickly reduce it to
dust.
Powder post beetles
mainly belong to following four
important families of order Coleoptera.
1) Lyctidae 2) Bostrichidae 3) Anobiidae
4) Cerambycidae |
Common species
observed in India
The adult beetles are small,
ranging from 2-7 mm in length, light brown to
almost black in colour. Life span of powder post
beetles varies from 1 to 5 years, depending on
the quality of the wood they infest, fluctuation
in temperature, moisture content of the wood &
species of beetle. The larvae eat hard dry wood,
tunnel through timbers in successive generations
until the interior is completely reduced to fine
powder and the surface shell is perforated by
many small shot holes. Generation after
generations of the insects may develop in the
dry wood with little external evidence until
yellowish powder is seen.
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Wood Borer : Powder Pest Beetles
