Lyctidae

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Lyctus planicollis (click on image to enlarge it)
Author(s): Natasha Wright, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Lyctidae - (true powderpost beetles)

This family of wood boring beetles is widely distributed and contains around 100 species. Several are important pests of wooden structures and furniture and are sometimes compared to the termites in terms of damage caused. They are often imported with infested hardwood. The adults are small, often around 5 mm long, elongated and have a brown to black colour.

The family is related to the false powder-post beetles (Bostrichidae) and the drugstore beetles (Anobiidae). Important characters of the Lyctidae are the very elongated, somewhat flat shape of the adults with the head clearly visible from above. The 2-segmented antennal club and a depression on the hind coxae for receiving the femora. They are regarded as a subfamily of the Bostrichidae by some authors.


The following genera and individual species are currently entered under Bostrichidae: