Lazy Lyctids

May 14, 2008

I have a wood boring lyctid in my cutting board. I know this because it is leaving a pile of wood dust around the base of the cutting board. It took me awhile to figure out where it was coming from. At first I thought it was the wood cabinet above the sink. But then after cutting carrots on the board I noticed that a small pile of fine wood pellets had become to accumulate off to the side. I found the pin sized hole on the edge of the board. Not much to do about it though. I could tape the hole, but then the bug would be inside and just find another way out.

Turns out it is actually the larvae that do most the damage. They tunnel away, consuming the wood for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and eventually emerge as an adult once a year. According to the web page I googled this happens about June. So looks like I have a little science project in my kitchen. If I time it right I can observe the woodpost beatle emerge from my cutting board, If he is a lazy lyctid he won’t actually fly away, but turn around and lay his eggs in the wood he came out of. Then the cycle repeats.

I didn’t really mind the wood dust. It’s pretty clean as far as larvae feces go. But then the actual thought of living larvae and eggs inside your cutting board isn’t entirely pleasant.

I have four ongoing science projects in the house at the moment. The wood bores are busy in the kitchen, under the bathroom sink, over the desk, and in the hallway. They had a nice spot over the stove, but Victoria the house cleaner found their hidey hole and plugged it up. That works for a little while, but then they just move to another spot, make another hole and start pushing their wood feces out again. Do you think they ever get constipated??