Bug FAQSouthern Lyctus Beetle
Lyctus planicollis · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Bostrichidae
Also called: Powderpost beetle
Source: Wikipedia
Adults are 4-6 mm long, dark brown-black with a sparse yellowish down covering the body. They infest many hardwood items such as flooring, structural timbers, furniture and picture frames, and the larvae cause most of the damage. The beetle develops from egg to adult in about a year, with metamorphosis taking 12 days to a month, and females mate in spring.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Adults are dark brown-black and have a sparse, short yellowish down on their bodies.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults measure between four and six millimetres in length.
Source: Wikipedia
Is it a pest in the house?
The beetle is a serious pest of many hardwood products found in homes. Nearly all damage is caused by the larval stage.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Only sapwood is attacked by the larvae.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Metamorphosis from larva to adult takes from twelve days up to 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 soon after emerging 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
Status: native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
Questions people ask
What does the adult look like?
It is dark brown-black with a sparse, short yellowish down covering its body.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Bostrichidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyctus_carbonarius
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.