LIFE CYCLE Wood-boring insects are most active during the warmer spring and summer months.

The life cycle shown in Fig. 3.9.2 is similar for all species, progressing from egg, through larva (grub) and pupa (chrysalis), to adult (beetle). Adult female beetles seek rough crevices of sawn timber or former borehole exits to deposit their eggs. As the larvae hatch they bore into the wood, using it as food and sh elter. The tunnelling effect of hundreds of larvae from each batch of eggs can b e extremely damaging. The larval stage is the predominant part of an insect s life, extending for several years before maturing to a chrysalis. The chrysalis develo ps into an adult beetle just beneath the timber surface, from where it emerges t o reproduce, lay eggs and generate more damage. Table 3.9.1 provides some compar ison of the behavioural characteristics of species.