What are Wood Boring Beetles?



Woodworm is the common name for the larvae of wood boring beetles. The common furniture beetle (anobium punctatum) is the most frequently found species in the UK. Our guide will describe what these woodworm beetles look like, along with the three other main species of found in the UK.

These wood boring beetles can affect your property by laying their eggs on structural timbers and subsequently infesting the timber with larvae (woodworm) that consume the cellulose in wood making it weaker and less structurally sound. Understanding how to identify them and what the woodworm life cycle is will help you to prevent any outbreaks in your home.

If you have spotted signs of woodworm in your property, or have found beetles emerging from timber in your home, then we suggest you should take a look at our woodworm treatment pages to discover how our woodworm specialists can help you.

Types of woodworm beetle

Unfortunately, there are several different varieties of wood boring beetle, and each has a distinctive look and its own particular characteristics that influence the type of timber they will infest, and their life span in the larval stages.

Our guide will describe how to identify the four main species of woodworm beetles found in the UK.

Woodworm beetle life cycle

Despite the name, woodworm are not actually worms at all, rather it is the generic name for the larva of certain species of wood boring beetle. These larvae are small, wriggly and white, similar to maggots but slightly bigger with a curved “C-shaped” body. However, it is very rare that you will ever see woodworm larvae, as they tend to stay burrowed in timber until they emerge as a fully grown beetle.

Woodworm go through different phases as they undergo their transformation into an adult beetle, the life cycle of woodworm is as follows:

  • The adult beetle lays its eggs in crevices and open joints in wood.
  • Larval grub spends years chewing through the wood, feeding on cellulose and leaving it structurally weakened in the process.
  • The larva forms a pupation chamber near the surface where it will transform into a beetle.
  • The adult beetle bores out of wood, mates and finds a wooden surface to begin the process all over again.

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