The common furniture beetle or common house borer (''Anobium punctatum'') is a
woodboring beetle originally from Europe but now distributed worldwide. In the
larva
A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...
l stage it bores in wood and feeds upon it. Adult ''Anobium punctatum'' measure in length. They have brown ellipsoidal bodies with a
prothorax
The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum ( ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on ...
resembling a monk's
cowl
A cowl is an item of clothing consisting of a long, hooded garment with wide sleeves, often worn by monks. It was developed during the Early Middle Ages. The term may have originally referred to the hooded portion of a cloak, though contempor ...
.
The common furniture beetle is often confused with the
drugstore beetle and
cigarette beetle due to their similar appearance. The common furniture beetle can be distinguished from these other species by their lack of antennae as well as darker prothorax.
Life cycle
The female lays her eggs in cracks in wood or inside old exit holes, if available. The eggs hatch after some three weeks, each producing a long, creamy white, C-shaped larva. For three to four years the larvae bore semi-randomly through timber, following and eating the starchy part of the wood grain, and grow up to . They come nearer to the wood surface when ready to pupate. They excavate small spaces just under the wood surface and take up to eight weeks to pupate. The adults then break through the surface, making a 1 mm to exit hole and spilling dust, the first visible signs of an infestation. After they emerge, the adults do not feed; they find mates, reproduce, and die.
Pest control
The first step in pest control is prevention. Particularly important in this respect is to keep the timber dry - below 16% moisture content. A relative humidity within the building above 60% may lead to an infestation, and timber moisture content below 12% is too dry for an infection to occur. ''Anobium punctatum'' normally only attacks seasoned
sapwood timber, not live or fresh wood. Also, it usually does not attack
heartwood
Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...
timbers. This is readily observed from infested structures, where one piece of timber may be heavily attacked but an adjacent one left virtually untouched according to whether it is made from the heartwood or the sapwood part of a tree trunk. Infestations are also usually a problem of old wooden houses built with untreated timbers. Some building regulations state that timbers with more than 25% sapwood may not be used, so that wood borer infections cannot substantially weaken structures.
Infection, past or present, is diagnosed by small round exit holes of 1 to 1.5 mm diameter. Active infections feature the appearance of new exit holes and fine wood dust around the holes.
Because of the 3–4 year life cycle of ''Anobium punctatum'', timber or timber products bought containing an ''A. punctatum'' infection may not manifest holes until years after the timber has been acquired. Infestation can be controlled by application of a residual
insecticide
Insecticides are pesticides used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. The major use of insecticides is in agriculture, but they are also used in home and garden settings, i ...
(such as
permethrin
Permethrin is a medication and an insecticide. As a medication, it is used to treat scabies and lice. It is applied to the skin as a cream or lotion. As an insecticide, it can be sprayed onto outer clothing or mosquito nets to kill the insects ...
) to infected areas, by professional fumigation, or by replacing infected timber .
Simple aerosol insecticide sprays will only kill the adult borer on the wing but not the burrowing larvae, which remain relatively protected inside infected timbers. Freezing infected timber, or heating to 50 °C for a day or more, will kill beetle larvae, but offer no residual protection.
See also
*
Woodworm
A woodworm is the Xylophagy, wood-eating larva of many species of beetle. It is also a generic description given to the infestation of a wooden item (normally part of a dwelling or the furniture in it) by these larvae.
Types of woodworm
Woodbo ...
References
{{Authority control
Woodboring beetles
Anobiinae
Beetles described in 1774
Insects in culture