Are these eating the wood in my kitchen

shaz24 · 22 Nov 2014

Hi,

I have an infestation of small brown insects in and on my laminated wooden kitchen worktops and units. I'm concerned they may be some form of woodworm. Can anyone identify them from the photos in this post. From what I've seen online they may be book lice, in which case, from what I've read, they are not eating the wood, but I'm not sure.

I had a look for a suitable UK pest control forum before posting here but the ones I found seemed to have very little activity going on in them with very few recent posts.

Thanks in advance.

Shaz

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Deleted member 174758 · 22 Nov 2014

Are they active? They look more like worker termites than woodworm (which are either larvae or beetles) to me, but I'm no expert. My understanding is that all the common woodworm species mate whilst in he flying stage, generally May to June, then lay their eggs in crevices in timber. After mating the males die (no mouth pieces?) and the females don't survive too long, either. When the larvae hatch they bore into and through the wood for most of their lives before mutating into the flying insect form. Don't think that the insect form is active so late in the year

If they are termites you may ned to inform your local council as they are a non-native invasive/destructive species which DeFRA are concerned about

Burnerman · 22 Nov 2014

Another guess, but a while ago I found some wee beasties in an opened packet of dried pulses......just check inside your cupboard contents, will you?
John

AronSearle · 22 Nov 2014

y understanding is that all the common woodworm species mate whilst in he flying stage, generally May to June, then lay their eggs in crevices in timber. After mating the males die (no mouth pieces?) and the females don't survive too long, either. When the larvae hatch they bore into and through the wood for most of their lives before mutating into the flying insect form. Don't think that the insect form is active so late in the year

Pretty much this, exit holes in the timber would be present if these were woodworm.

shaz24 · 23 Nov 2014

Thanks for the responses.

The insects are currently active. Which probably rules out woodworm, though it has been very mild lately and there are plenty of small files and insects still about in our garden which should have died out weeks ago. I have seen smaller versions of the ones in the photo which were white/translucent all of which ties in with book lice.

I did find a bag of flour in a cupboard with the heaviest concentration of the insects surrounding it. The Flour has been thrown out and cupboard vacuumed.

Thanks again.

WabbitPoo · 23 Nov 2014

Sometimes flour bags come with these in them - If a new bag you should take it back to the shop and demand a refund.

Safety First · 23 Nov 2014

They (IMO) are psocids. They do not bore wood.
They do tick.
Hard to get rid of but not a great problem...

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Are these eating the wood in my kitchen

Deleted member 174758

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