Pests of Logs, Lumber, and Forest Products

In Chapter 5, we discussed the ecological group of organisms that bore into the woody tissue of living trees. In this section we will discuss insects that generally attack wood after trees have been cut or processed into wood products. This arbitrary ecological categorization does not necessarily follow taxonomic lines. For example, in the previous section, we discussed insects representing the families Scolytidae, Platypodidae, Cerambycidae, and Bostrichidae that damage living trees. We will again discuss members of these families that have feeding habits quite distinct from their taxonomic relatives. Most of the examples cited in the previous section that are from these families are exceptions to the general ecological pattern for these taxonomic groups.