Subject: Bug in my house in winter
Geographic location of the bug: Norton Shores, Michigan
Date: 02/11/2018
Time: 09:27 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: I found this bug crawling on the floor in winter. February 2018.
This is the second one in about a month. It is 1/2 to 5/8 inch long. The
antennas were quite long. It looks like some kind of a beetle. I’ve looked,
but can’t see a pictures of it. Should I be concerned? Thank you
How you want your letter signed: no
Based on this BugGuide image, we are confident that this is a Cedar Tree Borer, and if you brought firewood into the house recently and the wood was arborvitae, cypress, juniper or cedar, the adult Cedar Tree Borers may be emerging from the firewood in the warm interior of your home. It is also possible they are emerging from some piece of furniture or wooden object that was made from the host plants. They will not infest milled lumber.
Thank you, Wayne
Dear Wayne,
While you don’t have to worry about the already milled lumber becoming infested, you should be aware that when immature wood boring insects are living in wood that gets milled, the maturing process is frequently delayed. There are incidents of some beetles emerging from wood that has been milled as long as fifty years earlier, so you may experience some Cedar Borers in the years to come.
Thanks for all the information. After hearing that they can emerge many years later that makes me think again. I love Eastern Red Cedar and have made quite a few things out of it. Maybe I better check all the things I have in the house made out of cedar. I don’t remember using any cedar in the past with bore holes. I’ll keep an eye out. This reminds of something that happened back in 1975. I came back from Columbia South America with some small walnut carved figures. After