Bug FAQPowderpost beetle
Lyctus carbonarius · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Bostrichidae
Also called: Southern Lyctus Beetle
Source: Wikipedia
The southern lyctus beetle is a tiny, 4-6 mm long beetle with a prominent head, club-shaped antennae and ridged elytra. Its larvae feed on the starchy part of soft hardwoods and cause most of the damage to floors, joists and other wood components in homes.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The head sticks out and is not hidden by the pronotum. Its antennae have eleven segments, with the last two forming a club shape. The body is long, slightly flattened and the pronotum is wider than it is long. The wing covers have longitudinal ridges and two rows of tiny punctures between them. A sparse, short yellowish down covers the beetle.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults measure about four to six millimetres long.
Source: Wikipedia
Is it a pest in the house?
It is a serious pest of hardwoods such as ash, hickory, oak, maple and mahogany. The larvae are responsible for almost all of the damage caused by this beetle.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
They eat the starchy interior of wood because they cannot break down cellulose.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Metamorphosis from egg to adult takes between twelve days and a month. The complete life cycle usually lasts about a year, but can range from six months to four years.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Females mate shortly after they emerge in the spring.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
Lyctus planicollis is considered a synonym of Lyctus carbonarius.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 15 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Kentucky, California, Michigan, Texas, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Colorado, Illinois.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
What wood does this beetle damage?
It attacks hardwoods like ash, hickory, oak, maple and mahogany.
Source: Wikipedia
Which life stage causes the damage?
The larval stage does nearly all of the damage to wood.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Bostrichidae)
Powder Post BeetleLyctus brunneusCan damage your home
Southern Lyctus BeetleLyctus planicollisCan damage your home
African powderpost beetleLyctus africanusCan damage your home
Red-shouldered BostrichidXylobiops basilaris
Stout's Hardwood BorerPolycaon stoutiiCan damage your home
Apple Twig BorerAmphicerus bicaudatusDamages trees, gardens or cropsSources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyctus_carbonarius
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-26 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-26.