Wood Beetle Eggs

Eggs are often laid in pores, cracks in wood, or just on the surface.

Wood beetle eggs. Female beetles usually lay dozens or hundreds of eggs. Larvae of the powderpost beetle feed on many of the various hardwoods used in furniture. They feed and develop within the wood.

They attack hardwoods depositing their eggs. Damage caused by the powderpost beetle is usually first detected with the appearance of holes in wood, 1/32 – 1/16 inch-diameter, from which a very fine sawdust may fall. Unlike lyctid or anobiid beetles, both adults and larvae of the bostrichid beetle damage wood.

Partly because new home constructions may be using wood infected with the beetle's eggs, which can be explained by the fact that these “new house” beetles look for higher resin content that is found in wood less than 10 years old. After hatching, the larvae tunnel into the wood to feed and grow. Most bostrichid beetles bore into freshly cut hardwoods, but a few will attack softwoods.

For the majority of this time they exist in the form of a larva. Because you never see the larvae, they're difficult to control. These beetles do not bite or sting but can cause damage to wood, furniture, paintings, books, and so on.

Adult wood-boring beetles lay their eggs on wooden surfaces. The eggs and pupae do not feed. The exact type of wood these beetles will infest is species-specific, meaning not every species will target the same thing.

The eggs hatch into larvae in a few weeks and bore into the wood. The developing grub-like larvae inflict damage as they create narrow, meandering tunnels in wood as they feed. The adults lay eggs, and the larvae eat their way through wood.