Powder Post Beetles
Powder post beetles breed in dead and dried hardwoods such as the dead branches and limbs of trees.
Their presence is overlooked until they are discovered in stored lumber, rafters, joists, finished wood, and furniture products.
As a rule, they enter lumber while it is being stored and cured, then later, emerge from the finished product.
Old items of furniture and wood antiques are especially vulnerable to attack by the beetles.
Damaged caused by powder post beetles is easily recognized.
When the adults emerge, they leave small holes ranging from the size of a pin to the size of pencil lead in the surface of the wood.
From these holes, a fine, powder flour like. Normally, these insects have a 1-year life cycle; this means that the adults will appear only once each year, and because of this habit the larvae have a feeding period of many months.