| Ship-timber beetles | |
|---|---|
| Lymexylon navale | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Suborder: | Polyphaga |
| Infraorder: | Cucujiformia |
| Superfamily: | Lymexyloidea |
| Family: | Lymexylidae Fleming, 1821 |
| Subfamilia and genera | |
|
|
The Lymexylidae, or ship-timber beetles, are a family of wood-boring beetles, and the sole member of the superfamily Lymexyloidea.
They are 7 to 18 mm long. The larvae bore into living and decaying wood, where they eat the fungi that grow in their tunnels. Some species are pests, killing live trees and damaging timber structures such as houses and ships.
There are 37 species in 7 genera, including:
This species has evolved a very interesting relationship with the yeast-like fungus, Endomyces hylecoeti. Every egg the female lays is coated with fungal spores from a pouch near her ovipositor. The larvae hatch and collect some of the spores by staying close to their egg shells for a while before tunnelling into the wood. The fungi grows on the walls of the tunnel the larvae make and it is this the young eat rather than the wood. The fungi requires a good flow of air, so the larvae keep their tunnel free of any debris.[1]