Research Information — Wood Destroying Insects
Termites are on the rise in Colorado, but beetles, bees, and ants can also cause serious long term problems in homes and commercial buildings along the Front Range. If these problems are addressed early, little damage is done. If ignored, serious structural damage and safety concerns can arise. Most problems can be remedied with physical changes in the environment and no harmful materials. Call to protect your investments from wood destroying insects.
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Quick Facts
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Carpenter Ants
Carpenter Bee
Powder Post Beetle
Subterranean Termites
Brown Rot
Carpenter Ants
Color: Workers have some brown on them while queens are black
Size: Wingless queens measure 5/8 inch, winged queens 3/4 inch to the tips of their folded brownish wings, small minor workers 1/4 inch and large major workers 1/2 inch.
Feeding Habits: do not eat wood but excavate wood galleries to rear their young ants and carry aphids to plants.
Carpenter Bees
Color: black, with a metallic sheen
Size: ¾ - 1 inch
Feeding & Habits: solitary insects that do not form colonies. Male and female carpenter bees over winter as adults within their old nest gallery. Adults emerge in the spring (April and early May) and mate. Females excavate a clean-cut, round nest entrance hole on the lateral surface of wood in exposed or unexposed locations. Feeds on pollen and nectar.
Powder Post Beetles
Color: dark brown to black
Size: 1/8-3/4 inches
Feeding & Habits: Damage is done by the larvae as they create narrow, meandering tunnels in wood as they feed. Infestations are discovered after noticing small, round "shot holes" in the wood surface.
Subterranean Termites
Color: workers are wingless, soft-bodied, creamy white to grayish-white
Size: 1/8 inch long and are blind
Feeding & Habits: termites turn cellulose (wood, paper, mulch, etc.) into sugars that they feed to young. You usually will not see termites as they burrow through cellulose materials just under the surface. If activity is observed there is no need to panic as they do not move fast. Active when observed will prevent large scale damages.
Brown Rot
Color: brown discoloration and a crumbly appearance
Cause: reoccurring water damage
Feeding & Habits: Decay fungi are living organisms which send minute threads called "hyphae" through damp wood, taking their food from the wood as they grow. Gradually, the wood is decomposed and its strength is lost. Such damage is often inconspicuous until its final stages.
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