(Hylotrupes bajulus)
Biology:
The house longhorn beetle is a black to brown-black beetle with white hairy spotted cross bands on the elytra. The pronotum is covered in white hairs with two shiny bumps. The very long, strong, thread-like antennae are characteristic of longhorned beetles. The females grow up to 25 mm long, the males up to 15 mm. The larvae bore and eat oval feeding tunnels in coniferous woods. The oval exit hole of the beetles is about 5 mm x 3 mm in size. Depending on feeding conditions, development can take between 2 and 14 years.
Damage:
The longhorned beetle is the most important pest of coniferous wood; it only attacks the sapwood. It is mainly found in the wood of roof trusses, more rarely in furniture. Outdoors, it is often found in utility poles, fence posts, etc. The damage is caused by the feeding galleries of the larvae in the wood and the flight holes of the adult beetles.
In contrast to the common nail beetle, an infestation by the house longhorn beetle cannot be recognized by swelling wood flour. It therefore often remains undetected for a long time, as the activity of the pest cannot be recognized from the outside, apart from the oval exit holes of the beetles and the characteristic “rasping” feeding noises of the larvae.
