By far the most Common species found in the UK is the Common Furniture Beetle, a wood boring insect, which can cause a considerable amount of damage to both soft and hard woods. The larvae of the beetle bore through the wood, digesting the cellulose. After two to three years they form a pupae chamber near the surface and there change into adult beetles. In summer the adult beetles bore their way out, in so doing, make the characteristic woodworm hole. After they emerge the adult beetles, which can fly, mate and the females lay their eggs (up to sixty) in cracks, crevices, or old flight holes. The eggs hatch out, and a new generation begins a new life.
Wood boring beetles may attack any untreated timbers within a property. Even new timbers are susceptible due to the high starch content found in the sapwood of young trees. With the current high levels of demand for timber, trees are not allowed the growing time necessary that leads to a greater natural resistance to wood boring beetle and fungal attack.
