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"Austrapest has been established for over 20 years" |
| Many species of Coleoptera and Lepidoptera exist which affect timbers - usually expert identification is needed.
Two types that pest controllers encounter are - Anobium borer (furniture beetle) and Lyctus borer (Powder post beetle). |
Anobium Borer
Furniture beetles infest softwood timbers and occasionally the sapwood of some hardwoods. The most common encounter in urban pest control is in floorings and furniture. They are usually noticed in timbers of some age, at least 7 years old.
There are no effective ways to determine present or past activity during inspections. Test samples would only give findings on those particular samples not the entire floor. They should always be considered active. It can not be said that borers are "inactive" or that there is "old borer damage" even after a treatment.
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The Life cycle of the borer is 1-6 years, adult size is 2.5 – 4.5 mm. They lay 50-100 eggs in open joints, cuts, rough edges, or old flight holes. The holes are 1.5 – 2 mm in diameter. Damaged timbers are a honey comb appearance, gritty frass is present. In moist conditions, the life cycle can be as short as 1 year and in drier conditions can extend to 6 years. The beetle emerges in October to November. |
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Timbers attacked
Many softwoods including Baltic pine, Hoop pine, Radiate pine, Oregon, Balsam fir, English oak, plywood.
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Control Choices
1. Replace infested timber with a resistant wood such as White cypress pine or hardwoods.
2. Fumigate with Methyl bromide for small items and furniture.
3. Alternatively if timbers are still sound and moderately infested, surface treatment may be of some value. The safest formulation available in Australia at present is Deltamethrin from Bayer or PCT international.
Yearly applications for the period of the life cycle of the beetle is recommended.
Deltamethrin is a pyrethroid insecticide and has a relatively lower toxicity to humans compared to previously used chemicals
Note
Full control may never be achieved by surface sprays which should never
carry out a warranty. |
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Powderpost Beetles - Lyctus brunneus & Lyctus discedens
Beetles vary in size from 3 - 6mm, are dark
brown with short antennae.
Larvae are curled with 3 pair of well
defined thoracic legs and two enlarged
spiracles on the second last abdomen segment.
This borer is considered to be native. |
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The powderpost beetle lays its eggs in exposed end pores in the sapwood of susceptible timbers (some hardwood timbers only). The eggs hatch and larvae feed in the sapwood. When fully fed they bore close to the surface of the wood and later emerge as beetles.
Timber Pest Inspectors make their identification of this borer based on the type of wood attacked, on the emergence holes (round 1.5-2.0mm in diameter), and the frass (a fine powdery dust) from their workings. |
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Timbers attacked
Lyctus brunneus & Lyctus discedens only attack the sapwood section of hardwood timbers and usually during the first few years of the service life of the timber. By law, timbers in service (ie building timbers) are only permitted a small percentage of sapwood. In most cases the damage therefore caused by this beetle will not affect the structural soundness..
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Control Choices
No chemical treatment is recommended for the control of Lyctus borer. Just replace timbers if it ever becomes necessary. |
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