Woodworm is the most common pest in wooden constructions or elements made of it: furniture, doors, etc. Its effect can be very damaging to works of art, not only carvings and altarpieces but also paintings on canvas by attacking their frames and stretchers.

Its presence is easily recognized by the holes seen on the surface and by the sawdust that comes out of them, but the animal that caused the damage has already left and will have died, leaving eggs that resume the cycle.

During most of its life the larva excavates galleries inside the wood and in its last stage it transforms into a beetle; This is when it pierces the surface to get out, leaving a hole in the wood. This is usually in the warm months of the year. It has a certain capacity for flight, so it can deposit its eggs in other places, expanding the pest. The eggs hatch and the tiny larvae access the interior of the wood through cracks or joints. Sometimes the pest appears to be latent due to the absence of new holes, but in reality the larvae continue to gnaw the interior, so any eradication treatment cannot be definitive in the first year.

To eliminate common woodworm, there are various treatments and remedies, both professional (using chemicals and gases) and homemade.

Zahradník, J., 1990. Guide to the Coleoptera of Spain and Europe. Omega, Barcelona, ​​570 pp. ISBN 84-282-0781-X.

Woodworm is rare in nature, and is closely linked to humans. It prefers places protected from water and cold, and thus its best environment is human constructions where there is wood, especially dry wood and not freshly cut; larvae rarely attack living trees. His preferences are antique furniture and constructions.

Another type of pest different from woodworm is breadworm, which also lives close to humans but feeds on products such as bread or tobacco.

Woodworm is the most common pest in wooden constructions or elements made of it: furniture, doors, etc. Its effect can be very damaging to works of art, not only carvings and altarpieces but also paintings on canvas by attacking their frames and stretchers.

Its presence is easily recognized by the holes seen on the surface and by the sawdust that comes out of them, but the animal that caused the damage has already left and will have died, leaving eggs that resume the cycle.

During most of its life the larva excavates galleries inside the wood and in its last stage it transforms into a beetle; This is when it pierces the surface to get out, leaving a hole in the wood. This is usually in the warm months of the year. It has a certain capacity for flight, so it can deposit its eggs in other places, expanding the pest. The eggs hatch and the tiny larvae access the interior of the wood through cracks or joints. Sometimes the pest appears to be latent due to the absence of new holes, but in reality the larvae continue to gnaw the interior, so any eradication treatment cannot be definitive in the first year.

To eliminate common woodworm, there are various treatments and remedies, both professional (using chemicals and gases) and homemade.

Zahradník, J., 1990. Guide to the Coleoptera of Spain and Europe. Omega, Barcelona, ​​570 pp. ISBN 84-282-0781-X.