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INSECT FACTS |
Identification
The Common Furniture Beetle is an introduced pest to Australia. The adult beetles are brown with yellowish hairs, and reddish-brown legs. The first segment of the thorax forms a hood which hides the head. The antennae are club shaped with last three segments forming a club. The elytra (hardened front wings) have rows of dimples along their length. The beetle attacks seasoned sapwood timber. It does not attack fresh wood, and usually does not feed on heartwood timber. They can cause serious structural damage if left unchecked. Infestation can be controlled by applying a residual insecticide such as permethrin (via professional fumigation) to infected areas.
Size
adult beetles are 3mm to 5mm long
Food
The Common Furniture Beetle is a wood boring beetle. The larvae bores into wood and feeds on it. In Australia they rarely attack timber that has been in use for less than ten years. They usually attack seasoned timber in damp, cool conditions, such as bathroom flooring, or near leaking walls or window frames.
Breeding
The female beetle lays her eggs in cracks in wood or inside old bore holes. The grubs are creamy white and feed on timber for three to four years growing to about 7mm long. They pupate near the surface of the wood and emerge as adults making a 1mm to 1.5 mm exit hole.
Classification
| Class: | Insecta | | Order: | Coleoptera | | Family: | Anobiidae | | Genus: | Anobium | | Species: | punctatum | | Common Name: | Common Furniture Beetle |
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