Anobium Punctatum

ANOBIUM PUNCTATUM
Anobium punctatum, the common furniture beetle attacks old seasoned timber. It attacks both sapwood and heartwood of both softwoods and hardwoods. Timbers attacked will generally be 10 years or older in the case of pines and 30 years and older with hardwoods. Anobium punctatum has a wide distribution throughout South Africa but causes the most damage in the coastal areas.

The adults do not feed and their sole purpose is to reproduce. The female lays her eggs in cracks in wood, in joints, on rough sawn surfaces and in old emergence holes. The eggs hatch after 3 weeks, each producing a 1mm long creamy-white larva, which when removed from the timber will curl up into a comma shape. Before pupation these larva are 5mm – 7mm in length and will have 3 pairs of legs and a dark coloured head. It is the larval stage that causes the damage to the seasoned timber. The entire life cycle can take between 3 – 4 years. The larva pupate just below the surface of the timber, the adult emerges by making an emergence hole which is round and has a diameter of 1,5mm. The frass is in the shape of microscopic barrels or spindles and when rubbed into the palm of a hand has a gritty feel resembling salt.

The adult beetle can vary in length between 2,5mm to 5mm and is usually reddish or yellowish brown. They have well developed wings and can fly.

Treatment of Anobium punctatum is to remove and replace severely infested timber with pretreated timber and/or methyl bromide fumigation using 48grams per cubic metre of free air displacement and held for not less than 24 hours.
By Sue Alcock

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