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Wood Borer Problem?
Check the common signs like eggs or crumbling wood to see if you have a wood borer problem
Wood Borer Species
Wood damaging pests can attack expensive antiques and even a building’s structural components. Knowing the type of wood boring beetles involved can help determine the most effective control methods.
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Longhorn Beetle (Kumbang Sesungut Panjang)
(Cerambycidae)
Appearance
- Adult beetle is 10–25 mm in length.
- Black/brown colour with greyish hairs and 2 black spots on thorax which resemble eyes.
- Larva is greyish white in colour and can grow up to 35 mm when fully developed.
Habits
- Female lays eggs in cracks and crevices of wood.
- Larva tunnels between sapwood and bark; subsequently moves deeper into the wood as it matures.
- Larva creates a hole before it pupates and leaves wood fibres out of the hole.
- Often found infesting dying trees or abandoned logs.
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Powder Post Beetle
(Lyctus brunneus)
One species of Powder Post Beetle is commonly found in Barbados. This beetle infests hardwood timber in service such as Eucalyptus, Oak, Ash, Elm, Walnut, Sycamore, Sweet Chestnut and African Mahogany. It attacks these wide-pored hardwoods because the female beetle is able to fit her eggs into these pores.
Appearance
- Adult beetle 4 – 7mm in length.
- Red/brown in colour.
Lifecycle
- Adult beetles usually appear in the summer months, but in heated premises they can be found throughout the year.
- The larvae gradually reduce the infested timber, just leaving a thin veneer of wood on the surface.
Habits
- Emerging adults make pin-hole sized openings 1 to 2 mm in size, often called 'shot holes’.
- Whole lifecycle is completed in about one year.
- Primary pest of timber yards.
- Given enough time, wood will be reduced to a mass of fine powder that crumble to the touch, hence the name 'powder post'.
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Pinhole Borer (Kumbang Liang Jarum)
(Platypus cylindrus)
Appearance
- Adult beetle is very small, 1–2 mm in length.
- Elongate, cylindrical shaped and predominantly chestnut-brown or dark brown in colour.
- Mature larva is creamy white in colour, cylindrical shaped with yellowish head.
Habits
- Digs into wood to construct galleries where they produce fungi for its larva to feed on.
- Often found infesting wood such as logs and timbers when it is still 'green' before it has been dried.
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Shothole Borer (Kumbang Liang Bubuk)
(Scolytus rugulosus)
Appearance
- Adult beetle length can goes up to 3 mm and cigarette-shaped.
- Dark brown to black in colour with reddish brown legs and antenna.
- Larva is white in colour, curve shaped and can grow up to 3 mm long.
Life Cycle
- Female lays up to 50 eggs.
- Larva takes 6–8 weeks to fully develop.
Habits
- Often attack logs and timbers.
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Jewel Beetle (Kumbang Permata)
(Platypus cylindrus)
Appearance
- Adult beetle is 2–20 mm in length.
- Bright metallic colours with flattened bodies and an elliptical outline.
Life Cycle
- Larva usually takes 1–2 years to mature.
- Adult beetle has short life span, usually living 3–5 months.
Habits
- Larva burrows into the heartwood of living or freshly felled trees.
- Larva creates a hole before it pupates and leaves wood fibres out the hole.
- Often found infesting abandoned trees and logs.