Wood borer infestation

Katja Telp <katjatelp [at] sbcglobal__net> writes

>A polychrome wooden sculpture I am restoring has some alarming wood
>borer infestation, and it is nothing I have ever seen before. The
>exit holes are enormous, about an inch long and oval. The undigested
>wood shavings from the holes are 3/4 inches long.

Katja, the wood boring problem you have encountered is from a
beetle, either in the family Cerambycidae or Buprestidae.  It is not
from a carpenter bee.  Carpenter bees leave round holes; yours was
an oval exit hole.  I would have to know more about the origin of
this wooden sculpture--where was it housed or displayed, how old is
it, was it outdoors, are the holes confined to a single area or
widespread throughout the piece, etc.

Thomas A. Parker, PhD
President, Entomologist
Pest Control Services, Inc.
469 Mimosa Circle
Kennett Square, PA 19348
Bugman22 [at] aol__com
610-444-2277


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:1
                 Distributed: Saturday, April 28, 2007
                        Message Id: cdl-21-1-006
                                  ***