Woodworm

By the term woodworm we mean a wide range of wood-eating insects. Most belong to the Coleoptera (beetle) family. woodworm attacks live, half-dead, diseased, burned, drought-stressed or dead trees, as well as fully treated wood. At home we will find them on floors, roof timbers, wooden stairs, picture frames, furniture and in general any wooden structure.

The damage caused by wood rot ranges from tiny holes in the surface of the wood, to a reduction in the structural integrity of the wooden parts of a building, furniture, etc.

Usually the woodworm is noticed by the exit holes it creates in the wood it has attacked. These depending on the species of each saraki have a different shape and size and in many cases a fine powder of chewed wood. These holes can be like the head of a pin up to 2-3 points.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT WOODWORM

Biology

All wood-eating beetles that attack wood show perfect metamorphosis (egg, larva, adult). The larval stage is the one that does the most damage to the wood. It moves through the wood in galleries, eating it. After one to five years the larva turns into an adult. The thriving insect makes exit holes in the wood (that’s when the infestation becomes noticeable) and comes out to breed and lay its eggs again in some wood.

When they leave the wood through the holes, they often leave a fine powder of chewed wood. This can be seen on furniture or on the floor as a fine dust. In some cases of insects, the attack can be perceived by the sound that some species make from chewing wood.

The determination of the type of insect that has attacked the respective wood is made by the size of the exit holes, by the type of wood and various other indirect ways. The problem is that these damages are usually noticed when the damage is already far advanced.

MAIN SPECIES OF WOOD-EATING BEETLES (WOODWORMS)

The main species of wood-eating beetles that concern us are the following.

Family Cerambycidae

• Hylotrupes bajulus (house borer). Flesh 5-6 mm in males, 8-12 mm in females. Larva up to 31 mm. Its biological cycle is from 3 to 15 years. Blooms appear from May to August and live from 1 to 3 weeks. The exit holes are up to large, up to 2 points and oval. In houses it prefers soft wood (pine, fir) with a low moisture content.
• Hesperophanes spp. (Hopeless saraki). Acmeus 15-20 mm with longer antennae than hylotrupes. The exit hole is up to 5mm and almost circular. It usually attacks non-resinous woods, such as oak, poplar, walnut, almond, fig, fig, etc.

Family. Anobiidae

• Anobium punctatum (common Greek gorse). The mature insect is 2.5-6 mm reddish with fine short yellow hairs. Its larva is 6-7 millimeters. Lives 2-4 years. The exit holes are small circular. It is usually an insect of all wood furniture, in conditions with high relative humidity and temperature.
• Xestobium rufovillosum (death watch). The flower is 5-7 mm, red-brown to dark gray-brown with patterns of gray-yellow hairs. The larva is 8-12 mm. The biological cycle is 1-10 years. Prefers hard wood (willow, oak) and wood affected by wood-eating fungi.

Subfamily Lyctinae

• Lyctus bruneus
• Lyctus linearis
• Lyctus africanus. Their blooms are 3-7 mm. The fully developed larva is 5 mm. The larval development period is 2 to 18 months and depends on temperature, humidity and starch supply. Blooms emerge in summer from pinhead-sized exit holes. These beetles come second in destructiveness after termites, but are limited to hardwoods with large pores, such as oak, poplar, mahogany, walnut, bamboo, etc. They are found on floors, wooden boxes, furniture, antiques, picture frames, tool handles, weapons, etc. The sawdust coming out of the holes is a fine yellow.

Family. Bostrychidae

• Bostrychus capucinus (Capuchin). The bloom is 8-14mm. Its head and thorax are black while the sheaths on its body are bright red. Its larva is 12-15 millimeters. Its biological cycle is 1 to 5 years. The exit holes are round. It infests dead or cut oak and chestnut trees from the forest. When this wood becomes floors or other objects, the insect ends up in homes where it causes great damage.
• Dinoderus minutes & Dinoderus brevis (Bamboo snakes). Blooms are small 3 mm, cylindrical, reddish-brown to black in color. The larvae feed for 6 weeks. They mate and the perfect ones come out of the wood in 3 days. They infest stored or processed bamboo wood. (furniture, skewer straws and general equatorial wood. They have also been seen in spices, cocoa, corn, rice, stored grains, etc.