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Field guide to exotic pests and diseases: European house borer
Hylotrupes bajulus (Linnaeus)
European house borer adult.
Damage caused by European house borer larva.
Identification: larvae elongate and cylindrical with reduced head and legs, 19-41mm long and to 7.5mm wide at maturity. Adult beetles 18-25mm long, brownish-black to black, slightly flattened in appearance. Antennae half as long as body, wing-covers usually completely black but may have distinctive white bands. This borer prefers temperatures of 28-31° Celsius.
Hosts: attacks seasoned softwood timber including pine, fir and spruce. Roof timbers most often infested.
Distribution: Europe, Middle East (Turkey), North Africa, South Africa, South America, USA, China and Asia Minor.
Detection:Larvae: form galleries parallel to grain, tightly packed with fine powdery frass and tiny pellets, tunnels 9-12mm wide and 6mm high.
Adults: emerge after 2-17 years from an oval-shaped hole 5 x 9mm in size (emergence holes usually first sign of infestation); strong fliers, attracted to night lighting. Most likely to enter Australia on imports of seasoned timber or timber articles such as furniture.
Potential impact: one of the world’s most destructive pests of seasoned softwood timber.