Elateroides dermestoides (L.)
From Bugwoodwiki
From: Kolk A., Starzyk J. R., 1996: The Atlas of Forest Insect Pests (Atlas skodliwych owadów lesnych) - Multico Warszawa, 705 pages. Original publication in Polish. English translation provided by Dr. Lidia Sukovata and others under agreement with The Polish Forest Research Institute.
Occurrence: Widespread throughout Europe reaching the most northern parts of Scandinavia, observed also in Siberia and the Caucasian Mountains.
Host Plants: Many coniferous and deciduous tree species, but it avoids pines, larches and hornbeams.
Morphology: Adults are 6-18 mm long. The body is elongated, cylindrical, with long soft elytrae. Antennae of both sexes are saw-shaped. The second segment of male palpi is feather-like. Females are yellow or reddish brown, and males can be yellow to black. The egg is whitish, elongated, about 1-1.3 mm long. The larva is with legs, yellowish-white, up to 20 mm long, with the long spine (baring 6-7 pairs of tiny spines) on the last segment of abdomen and hood-like pronotum. The pupa resembles the adult and has slightly upward banded spines on tergits.
Biology: Adults are active from April through June with a culmination in early May. Swarming usually lasts 3-4 days. Females lay single or several eggs in groups, usually in the basic part of trees. Larvae excavate tunnels on the wood surface and/or bore into the wood reaching heartwood. Tunnels are up to 4 mm in diameter and up to 18-26 mm in length. Galleries are clean, because larvae remove frass out that can easily be noticed on stems. Larvae feed on mycelium of the symbiotic fungus Endomyces hylecoeti Neeg., which grows on the wall of tunnels. The wall becomes blackish when the fungus decays. Larvae overwinter deep in the wood and continue feeding in spring. At the end of the development, larvae widen galleries at the wood surface and pupate there with a head outward. Adults emerge through oval exit holes of 2-4 mm in diameter. The entire development lasts a year, however in the mountains it can last 2 or even 3 years.
Damage: E. dermestoides is an important technical pest of a timber of deciduous and coniferous tree species. It lowers the wood value. It has a tendency to abundant occurrence in timber yards and stands damaged by wind. It infests trees with the timber moisture not less than 30-40 %, and can reproduce in high abundance in the same substrate for several years.
Control: Removal of the susceptible material from woodlands. The timber infested by E. dermestoides should be removed and processed. In some cases chemical treatment is recommended.
 Photo by Robert Dzwonkowski, , Bugwood.org |  Photo by Stanislaw Kinelski, , Bugwood.org |
 Photo by Stanislaw Kinelski, , Bugwood.org |  Photo by Stanislaw Kinelski, , Bugwood.org |
 Photo by Stanislaw Kinelski, , Bugwood.org |  Photo by Stanislaw Kinelski, , Bugwood.org |
 Photo by Stanislaw Kinelski, , Bugwood.org |
