The deathwatch beetle is a species of woodboring beetle that sometimes infests the structural timbers of old buildings. The adult beetle is brown and measures on average 7 mm (0.3 in) long. Eggs are laid in dark crevices in old wood inside buildings, trees, and inside tunnels left behind by previous larvae. The larvae bore into the timber, feeding for up to ten years before pupating, and later emerging from the wood as adult beetles. Timber that has been damp and is affected by fungal decay is soft enough for the larvae to chew through. They obtain nourishment by using enzymes present in their gut to digest the cellulose and hemicellulose in the wood.
Powderpost beetles are a group of seventy species of woodboring beetles classified in the insect subfamily Lyctinae. These beetles, along with spider beetles, death watch beetles, common furniture beetles, skin beetles, and others, make up the superfamily Bostrichoidea. While most woodborers have a large prothorax, powderpost beetles do not, making their heads more visible. In addition to this, their antennae have two-jointed clubs. They are considered pests and attack deciduous trees, over time reducing the wood to a powdery dust. The damage caused by longhorn beetles is often confused with that of powderpost beetles, but the two groups are unrelated. The larvae of the Cerambycidae are white, straight and generally flat-headed, whereas those of the Bostrichidae are white and C-shaped.
The term woodboring beetle encompasses many species and families of beetles whose larval or adult forms eat and destroy wood. In the woodworking industry, larval stages of some are sometimes referred to as woodworms. The three most species-rich families of woodboring beetles are longhorn beetles, bark beetles and weevils, and metallic flat-headed borers. Woodboring is thought to be the ancestral ecology of beetles, and bores made by beetles in fossil wood extend back to the earliest fossil record of beetles in the Early Permian (Asselian), around 295-300 million years ago.
Cleridae are a family of beetles of the superfamily Cleroidea. They are commonly known as checkered beetles. The family Cleridae has a worldwide distribution, and a variety of habitats and feeding preferences.
Chrysolopus spectabilis is a species of weevil found in south-eastern Australia. It was discovered during James Cook's first voyage, and became one of the first insects to be described from Australia. The weevil measures up to 25 mm (1.0 in) long and includes distinctive metallic green and black scales. It is found only on 28 species of the plant genus Acacia.
Ptinidae is a family of beetles in the superfamily Bostrichoidea. There are at least 220 genera and 2,200 described species in Ptinidae worldwide. The family includes spider beetles and deathwatch beetles.
Xanthocryptus novozealandicus, the lemon tree borer parasite, is a wasp in the family Ichneumonidae. It is a native insect of New Zealand. It is also found in Australia and New Guinea. Females hunt for larvae of wood-boring beetles around March, including the lemon tree borer, a native cerambycid that tunnels into citrus trees, grapes and many native species. When a suitable host is found, the female pushes her ovipositor through the wood and injects her eggs into the grub. This has the incidental benefit of helping to control some pests. X. novozealandicus prefers to prey on second year lemon tree borer larvae. This specific parasite prefers to prey on larger second year larvae due to its larger size.
Anobiinae is a subfamily of death-watch beetles in the family Ptinidae, with at least 45 genera. It was formerly considered a member of the family Anobiidae, but its family name has since been changed to Ptinidae.
Lyctus carbonarius is a wood-boring beetle in the family Bostrichidae, commonly known as the southern lyctus beetle or lyctid powderpost beetle. It is a serious pest of hardwoods including ash, hickory, oak, maple and mahogany and can infest many products in the home including hardwood flooring and structural timbers, plywood, furniture, tool handles, picture frames, baskets and ladders. Timber can be infested in one location and then be transported large distances by ship, after which the beetles can emerge and spread the infestation to new areas.
Apate terebrans, common names shot-hole borer or trunk borer or girdler, is a species of horned powder-post beetles belonging to the family Bostrichidae.
Placosternus difficilis, commonly known as the mesquite borer, is a wood-boring longhorn beetle which resembles a black and yellow wasp. Larvae of mesquite borers are deposited in, among others, mesquite trees, although it has been recorded from a range of hosts and is considered polyphagous. It has been seen to be attracted to mesquite trees when there is freshly cut or broken limbs and logs. Adults use nectar and pollen as a food source.
Heterobostrychus is a genus of beetles in the family Bostrichidae, the horned powder post beetles. Like other beetles of the family, these live in wood, often inflicting significant damage on timber and other wood products. This genus can also be found in crop plants such as cassava, potato, coffee, oilseeds, and pulse crops.
Euwallacea fornicatus is a species complex consisting of multiple cryptic species of ambrosia beetles, known as an invasive species in California, Israel and South Africa. As the rest of the ambrosia beetles, E. fornicatus larvae and adults feed on a symbiotic fungus carried in a specific structure called mycangium. In E. fornicatus, the mycangium is located in the mandible. The combination of massive numbers of beetles with the symbiotic fungus kill trees, even though the fungus alone is a weak pathogen.
Laricobius nigrinus is a species of tooth-necked fungus beetle in the family Derodontidae. It is native to western North America, and it is being studied as a biological control agent for the hemlock woolly adelgid. It was first released in 2003 and continues to be reared and released across the Northeast to control infestations.
Polycaon is a genus of horned powder-post beetles in the family Bostrichidae. There are at least four described species in Polycaon.
Priacma serrata is a species of reticulated beetle in the family Cupedidae. It is native to western North America. It is the only extant species in the genus Priacma. Members of the species live in coniferous forests, and are found under loose tree bark. The species is sexually dimorphic, with the rarely collected females being much larger than males. Males vary in size between 9.6 and 12.5 mm. The males of the species are noted to be strongly attracted to the odor of bleach. Dissections of adult males have consistently found empty intestines, with the digestive tract so withered in places that no food could pass through regardless. Collections suggest that adult emergence is highly episodic, with large numbers of adults emerging in sporadic events.
Paratillus is a genus of checkered beetles in the family Cleridae. There is one described species in Paratillus, P. carus.
Niptus ventriculus is a species of spider beetle in the family Ptinidae. It is found in Central America and North America.
The lemon tree borer, also known as the whistling beetle or the singing beetle, is a longhorn beetle endemic to New Zealand. Its larvae are generalist feeders, boring into the wood of a wide variety of trees, native and introduced. When citrus orchards were first established in New Zealand, this beetle started inflicting serious damage, and so gained the name "lemon tree borer". Four species within the genus Oemona have been identified, suggesting that more species could be found. When disturbed by predators or humans, the adult beetle stridulates creating a "rasp" or "squeak" sound by rubbing its thorax and head together against an area of thin ridges. Māori would eat a liquid called "pia manuka", which was produced by manuka trees when its wood was damaged by the larva. When Captain Cook first arrived in NZ, his naturalists, Banks and Solander, collected a lemon tree borer in their first collection between 1769 and 1771. This oldest collected specimen can be found in the British Museum. A few years after the first collection, the species would be first described by the Danish naturalist Fabricius in 1775.
Arrenodes minutus, commonly known as the oak timberworm, is a species of primitive weevil in the family Brentidae. These beetles are pests of hardwoods in North America. Adult oak timberworms are shiny, elongate, and range 7 to 25 mm in length. They are reddish-brown to brownish-black in coloration, with yellow spots on their elytra. Adults display strong sexual dimorphism; females have long, slender, straight mouthparts, while males possess flattened, broadened mouthparts with large mandibles. Males are known to be aggressive and use these large mandibles for combat. These mandibles are also used in courtship. Larvae are elongate, cylindrical, white, and curved. They have 3 pairs of jointed legs on the thorax and 1 pair of prolegs near the end of the abdomen.
