Notorious Destroyer.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20295, 3 May 1934, Page 10

Notorious Destroyer.

Nature Notes.

By James Drummond, F.L.S., F.Z.S. A NOTORIOUS native beetle is responsible for the following complaint by Mr G. W. Horn. Elstow. Waihou, near Te Aroha: “I shall feel obliged if you will identify the enclosed beetles and grubs. The grubs destroyed rimu and matai timber The rimu was a floor-joist, six inches by two inches, built into a new house about twelve years ago. The joist was destroyed along its complete length. Only the shell was left. The matai, which was part of flooring, was drilled with the grain lengthwise for five or six feet, no holes showing on the outside.”

Being a beetle, this species belongs to the dominant order of insects. It is one of about 200,000 species of beetles known to entomologists and described and named by them. As a longhorn, characterised by long antennae, or feelers, it is a member of one of the largest families of beetles. New Zealand has at least 240 species of longhorns. A female of Mr Horn’s species drills holes in wood with her ovipositor, that is, her egg-laying instrument. She lays her eggs in the holes. A grub is no sooner hatched than it begins to burrow, its burrows running with the grain. The popular name of the species is the two-tooth longhorn. Its official title is Ambeodontus tristis. Dead forest trees are the original homes of the species, but Dr D. Miller, chief entomologist at the Cawthron Institute, reports that it has taken milled timber into its range, making itself comfortable in rimu, matai, macrocarpa, and even in kauri, which, contrary to a general opinion, is not immune from borers.