![]() ![]() Some flatheaded borers have the ability to detect smoke from long distances. But these beetles are not a threat to standing trees or seasoned lumber. Borer larvae can live for many years, and the adults sometimes emerge from framing lumber or other material inside houses, much to the alarm of the people living there. Assessing the threatįrom a wood products standpoint, borers can cause a lot of damage by tunneling into solid wood. They also help degrade and recycle wood back into soil by turning it from solid wood into sawdust. Wood borer larvae are food for hungry woodpeckers. Note that wood borers generally invade the wood itself while bark beetles do not. ![]() Often, wood borers will invade a tree that has been killed by bark beetles, and the wood borer galleries will obscure or “overwrite” the bark beetle galleries. These galleries are created by wood-boring beetles or bark beetles.īorer galleries are mostly unbranched while bark beetle galleries are branched, with the main galleries wider than the branches.įlatheaded borer galleries are packed with fine, rounded material whereas roundheaded borer galleries contain more loosely packed, coarser-textured material.īorers can cause a lot of damage by tunneling into solid wood. If you look at a tree that has recently died and pull off a piece of bark, you will often see a winding gallery pattern on the inside of the bark and on the surface of the wood. It’s chomping action and large mandibles are said to have inspired the design of the modern chainsaw. The larvae of the ponderous borer, for example, reaches nearly 3 inches in length. Some wood borer larvae can reach large sizes. Roundheaded borers typically have antennae that are longer than their bodies (hence their other name, longhorned borer).Īdult longhorned borers may be up to 2 inches in length flatheaded borers are generally smaller. Two major families of wood-boring beetles in conifers are:įlatheaded borer adults tend to be torpedo-shaped with bright metallic coloring, such as the golden buprestid (pictured). ![]() ![]() With few exceptions, they infest trees that are already dead or dying from other causes and are not threats to healthy trees. The “worms” are the larvae of wood-boring beetles. Common questions include, did they kill my tree? And are they a danger to other trees? The quick answers are no, and no. You may have encountered white, segmented “worms” or grubs when chopping firewood and wondered what they were. ![]()
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