What is a woodworm?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
November 12, 2003
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The woodworm (Anobium punctatum (De Geer)) is a recycler, it is found in temperate zones worldwide. In the wild, it tunnels through dry standing wood. With repeated generations, the tiny tunnels meet and merge eventually converting solid wood to a sponge-like appearance. The wood's structure is weakened, fungi and bacteria find their way in, and the wood is reduced to nutrients for use by other organisms. Once the wood begins to decay though, woodworm is no longer attracted to it.
Woodworm is more at-home living in our homes and public buildings than living in the forest. It is relatively rare in the wild, the insect benefits from human habitation. The insect cannot enter wood through the bark nor can it use wood that is too wet or infested by fungi. It vastly prefers well-seasoned wood—floor beams, rafters, tables, cabinets, cherished antique chairs, frames around paintings, and even cellos and violins.
The woodworm is a grub, the larval stage of the tiny furniture beetle. Damage to furniture or structural lumber is seldom noticed until emergence holes appear on the surface. The almost cylindrical beetles leave the wood to move on and mate. The adults do not eat and only live a few weeks. The females lay pearly oval eggs in groups of twos or fours in cracks or crevices on dry lumber or at a joint in furniture. In all, a single female may oviposit up to fifty or so eggs. ("Furniture Beetle, Anobium punctatum (De Geer)", Wood-Destroying Insects and Fungi, Walter Ebeling, UC-Riverside.)
The larvae hatch a week to a month after the eggs are laid. They feed inside the wood for up to four years, forming the tunnels usually along the grain. The gut of the larva secretes an enzyme, cellulase that breaks down cellulose into usable sugars (energy).
Before the larva can begin feeding, it must eat part of its egg shell. The shell has a yeast on it deposited by the female beetle. The symbiotic yeast in the larva's gut is thought to convert cellulose into proteins necessary for the growth and development of the beetle. ("Insect: Anobium punctatum" Forest and Timber Insects in New Zealand No. 32.)
David Kendall of Kendall Bioresearch Associates has posted information on wood-boring beetles including Anobium punctatum. To view a photograph of the beetle and typical damaged lumber, click on the link:
http://www.kendall-bioresearch.co.uk/woodworm.htm
Scroll down to view photographs.
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading:
What is a woodworm? Renfield's Garden - November 12, 2003
What are ambrosia galleries? Renfield's Garden - November 5, 2003
What hardwood tree has no growth rings? Weird Plants - July 11, 2002
What is the Forest of Violins? Plants that Changed History - November 11, 2003
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