9 replies to this topic

[Btoon84]

Ever wonder what caused this? It fascinates me.

It's this

The Powder Post Beetle (PPB) <my acronym> feel free to put it into the glossary : )
this is a beetle called the Old House Borer the larger of the species.


***********this paragraph from wikipedia** duh
Powderpost beetles are a group of seventy species of woodboring beetles classified in the insect subfamily Lyctinae.^[1] These beetles, along with spider beetles, death watch beetles, common furniture beetles, skin beetles, and others, make up the superfamily Bostrichoidea. While most woodborers have a large prothorax, powderpost beetles do not, making their heads more visible. In addition to this, their antennae have two-jointed clubs. They are considered pests and attack deciduous trees, over time reducing the wood to a powdery dust.
**************************
I also read there are another species of beetle known as the longhorn beetle that these guys are often confused with. their larvae look like this.





These are pictures i took a couple weeks ago.



Looks familiar!
This gal mustve been in there for a looooong time! (i'm assuming gal only because from what i've read the females are larger of the two. the males being less than 1inch, the females reaching that easily) This one was def a biggin' I actually feel bad for totally F$@&ing up her world. Was totally moving an wrigglin, i hope she was mature enough to survive as i just plopped her into the grass... doubtful....food for something now...had no clue what it was then and honestly i thought it was kinda creepy .lol.... now after jskeen helped out http://slingshotforu...__fromsearch__1, i know what it is!! Or pretty close to it (there are hundreds of different kinds of wood boring insects i've learned. They are also referred to as bark beetles. The adult beetles are most notable in late spring and again in late sum­mer to early fall. How­ever, emer­gence can hap­pen at any time of the year, weather per­mit­ting.

A few more interesting things i learned after reading a few goog results.
They say when the beetle is nearing maturity the sounds of it "rasping" away inside the wood can clearly be heard. How cool! Id love to be able to find that and listen to it. Also the beetle can live for up to 10 years inside the wood, burrowing/eating/crapping (this is called "frass") and then chewing its way out once adulthood is reached and then the mature beetle will mate, and the female will often lay the eggs in the same timber. so multiple generations of beetle can live in a single piece of wood! In reality these little buggers are a huge pest but i happen think they are really cool. Only because they haven't eaten my home!! Or ruined my ##acres of timber!

PS*****Entomologists are often able to identify the beetle by the hole it leaves in the wood.


And PSS
I NOW realize what these guys are always grubbin' on!!!!



And PSSS folks, i hope to have pictures of my finished Grub Munch shooter soon. Polly coats taking longer to dry than i thought it would take. I don't want to rush this one : )

have a good one. i think i'll try sleep now : P

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[Karok01]

Saw a lot of these splitting wood last summer. If you ran some kind of new age bug gourmet restaraunt, you'd have no lack of wood grubs. All of these in these pics are pretty small though I gotta say, so for all you bug eaters in the U.S. East TN has the fattest juiciest grubs you could ever want! (maybe I should sent this post to Andrew Zimmern too?)

Edited by Karok01, 05 February 2012 - 07:37 AM.

[Btoon84]

I hear they are tasty. A delicacy even. I might eat one just for the **** of it. No point eating a little one though. Gotta look for a big fatty

[Karok01]

Btoon84, on 05 February 2012 - 08:19 AM, said:

I hear they are tasty. A delicacy even. I might eat one just for the **** of it. No point eating a little one though. Gotta look for a big fatty

They aren't bad, they are like nature's twinkie, plenty of creamy gooey filling. You can't go wrong!

[Tex-Shooter]

Here is the Ichneumon fly, a lesser known borer. I have watched them bore many times in dead wood to uncover a horned fly to plant there eggs in it. I have seen many pictures of them, but have yet seen one that shows exactly how they bore. They use two of there legs to manipulate there boring tool and make the hole. They make a hole about 1/4 inches in diameter. Some think that this bug is what caused the plague of boils in the bible. As Jerry Seinfeld would say (Neumann!!!)
http://www.vizzle.com/ichneumon/index.html

Edited by Tex-Shooter, 05 February 2012 - 10:33 AM.

[Btoon84]

Wow tex, those seem like some extremely specialized little critters. amazing.

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[Tex-Shooter]

Those pics are good, but they dont show him using his legs to grind out a hole. I have watched them and they are amazing. -- Tex

[Abe_Stranger]

At the risk of sounding like a little girl--EEK! My skin is crawling!

[Btoon84]

I'm starting to wonder about some fresh cut wood i have sitting in the corner, next to all these walking sticks and wood scraps that have these beetles/grubs in em. i feel like that wood should be quarantined. i picture those buggers spreading throughout my shop and ruining some nice wood.... oh god.

[slingshooterman]

The Predators minions have risen! Bwahahahahaha!