Bostrichid Beetle Research Paper

Few studies on the biology and life cycle of bostrichid beetles have been done with mostly concentrating on economically important species (Liu et al., 2008). Typically, the bostrichid beetle undergoes complete metamorphosis with four life stages – egg, larva, pupa and adult. Eggs are laid in crack and cervices of sawn lumber or logs. Larva hatch and bore ¼ inch into the wood. Tunnels are filled with tightly packed, fine sawdust-like materials. Pupation happens at the end of the tunnel. Once the adults emerge out, they will create exit holes on the wood surfaces and copulate. After copulation, female adult will search for suitable oviposition sites by nibbling on the wood surface to access the food quality (starch, sugars, disaccharides, polysaccharides, protein) and wood moisture content. Species such as Lyctus spp. were observed to be seasonal due to availability of higher starch content on ash and oak felled at end of winter compared to trees felled at end of summer. …show more content…
In Lyctus brunneus, the female bites the wood transversely, leaving grooves of ‘tasting marks’ on the surface (Hickin 1975). These ‘tasting marks’ might be used to assess the starch contain and expose wood pores for egg-laying. The female then oviposited its eggs (total ~70 eggs, 1-3 eggs/pore) on the selected sites within the depth of 1.0 to 6.5 mm in the wood pores (Gay, 1953). Eggs hatch within 14 days and larvae feed on sapwood by creating tunnels along the wood grain. Larvae growth varies between 2-18 months depending on environmental conditions (temperature and humidity) and wood quality (starch content). Prolong growth (30-48 months) has been observed under adverse condition such as in the Northern Hemisphere (Gerberg, 1957). Variation in the life cycle several powder-post beetles are summarized as in Table