Furniture beetles

The furniture beetle Anobium punctatum, a death-watch beetle, seems to use the same communication system as the drugstore beetle [263,264]. 

Furniture beetle agent Aliphatic hydrocarbons (C10-C14),branched alkanes, 8 cycloalkanes, acetone, dipropyleneglycolmonomethylether, cyfluthrin... 

In the indoor environment, many types of products such as crystals, sprays and liquids are applied for active and preventative protection of insects. Insect sprays are particularly popular because they are easy to handle and can be combined with air fresheners. Commonly, the amount of active agents in these products is well below 2%. For example, a commercially available insecticide for indoor use may contain 0.25% tetramethrin, 0.05% D-phenothrin and 1% of the synergist pipero-nyl butoxide. Pyrethroids are also used as active agents in liquid products against furniture beetle. In addition, materials containing natural fibers are often equipped with synthetic pyrethroids as a precaution. Apart from the active ingredients, volatile components such as acetone, aliphatic hydrocarbons, cycloalkanes, branched alkanes C3-benzenes and dipropylene glycol monomethyl ether are usually present in insecticides. 

The most destructive beetle pests are those which attack seasoned wood in service, e.g. Anobium punctatum, Hylotrupes bajulus, Lyctus brunneus. Only a few species are capable of doing this, but those that do can cause serious problems. They include long-hom beetles, the common house borer or furniture beetle and powder post beetles. Given susceptible lumber and suitable conditions for development, all of the above insects are difficult and expensive, or in some cases impossible, to control. The use of preservative treated wood obviates the necessity for control. 

Figure 22. Extensive tunneling is caused by larvae of the furniture beetle. The surface of the timber is generally characterized by the presence of small exit holes that lead to larger tunnels filled with disintegrated powdery wood substance (arrows) resulting from larval activity.

Furniture Beetles. Anobiidae, an insect family important to the conservator, contains six genera that attack wood. Of the six, Anohium punc-tatum and Xestobium rufovillosum are of particular interest, as they commonly attack cultural property. Both beetles excavate randomly, ignoring anatomical variations, within confined regions that generally are defined by higher MC and lower extractives. 

The Anobium punctatum or furniture beetle is a particularly severe pest in the United Kingdom and along the American eastern seaboard. Known also as woodworm , these pests attack flooring, furniture, wooden artifacts, structural timbers, and interior architecture (Figure 8). 

Figure 8. Section of white pine post from a 17th-century stable degraded by Anobium punctatum (furniture beetle). Note chamber concentration proximity to relatively sound wood.

Furniture beetles attack well-seasoned wood, but require openings or fissures in the surface for oviposition of eggs. Finished surfaces, even sandpapered surfaces, discourage oviposition. Transverse surfaces, such as the feet of legs and drawer backs, offer excellent ovipositional sites, however. 

Virgin females of the furniture carpet beetle, Anthrenus flavipes, produce (Z)-3-decenoic acid as a sex pheromone 107 [207]. In contrast, the female-produced sex pheromone of the varied carpet beetle Anthrenus verbasci is a two component mixture of (Z)-5-undecenoic acid 108 and its (E)-isomer [208]. Recent investigations showed the presence of additional electrophysiologically active components, however, no behaviour tests have been carried out [209]. 

The tests in the second series included buildings fogged with the oil Sovacide 544C alone, and it was found to possess significant insecticidal action at stations where a high concentration of fog occurred. This was evident particularly with houseflies, German cockroaches, mosquitoes of the genus Aedes, and furniture carpet beetles. 

E,Z)-3,5-tetradecadienoic acid as a sex attractant (55). The sexual releaser emitted by females of the furniture carpet beetle, Anthrenus flavipes, has been identified as (Zj-3-decenoic acid (56). The (Z)-isomer is about 20X more active than the (E)-isomer. 

Use Ovicide, effective against moths, furniture and carpet beetles, cockroaches, and body hce. 

Sex pheromone of the furniture carpet beetle (Athrenus flavipes). 

Fukui H, Matsumura F, Ma M C, Burkholder W E 1974 Identification of the sex pheromone of the furniture carpet beetle, Anthrenus flavipes LeConte. Tetrahedron Lett 3563-3566... 

Bry et al, 1979) were very effective in protecting against larvae of the webbing clothes moth and black and furniture carpet beetles. Even six and one half years after treatment (Bry et al., 1985a), the treated cloth stored in a darkened closet was still protected against insect feeding. 

Sximithrin (d-phenothrin) was also evaluated in home laundry studies identical to those described for permethrin and excellent results were obtained (Bry et al., 1983). An RTU (Ready-to-Use) formulation of tetramethrin and d-phenothrin formulated as a treatment for cockroach and flea control (Bry et al., 1984) using lower concentrations of Al (0.05% tetramethrin and 0.10% d-phenothrin) applied at five g of spray per square foot was also very effective against black and furniture carpet beetles and webbing clothes moth larvae when the treated wool was stored in a darkened closet for six months. 

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