Old-house borer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

iOld-house borer
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Cerambycidae
Genus: Hylotrupes
Species: H. bajulus
Binomial name
Hylotrupes bajulus
(Linnaeus, 1758)

The old-house borer (Hylotrupes bajulus) is a species of wood-boring beetle in the family Cerambycidae (longhorn beetles). Contrary to its name, it is more often found in new houses; this is in part because new home construction may use wood infected with the beetle's eggs.

Old-house borers prefer seasoned softwoods, and particularly pine. Only the larvae feed on the wood. Larvae take two or three or more years to mature, depending on the moisture content of the wood. Larvae usually mature in the spring, and the mature adults then cut holes 6–10 mm (¼ to 3/8 in) in diameter to exit the wood. Adults are most active in the summer.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: