Hobbies And Interests
Varied Carpet Beetle
As the name implies, carpet beetles come in various colors, including yellow, white, brown, tan and black. Adult carpet beetles, which grow approximately a quarter of an inch long, are good at flying and are attracted to light. When the weather turns cold in late fall in Bangor, adult beetles find their way into people's homes by attaching themselves to clothing or anything else that people bring inside. However, it's not the adult beetles that do the most damage. Carpet beetles in the larval stage will eat almost anything to meet their nutritional requirements. Unlike other beetles, carpet beetles will eat grain, skin, fur and wool. They'll even eat yarn made of synthetic fibers and wool, but they'll need to eat much more of it because they can't digest the synthetic material.
Spruce Beetle
Spruce beetles became a serious problem in Bangor and elsewhere in Maine in the 1990s, when they infested stands of large white and red spruce trees. While their numbers have decreased significantly, they are still a threat to trees, especially on the islands and headlands on the coast of Maine. While spruce beetles usually feed on trees that are already compromised, they will infest healthy trees just as readily. Signs of an infestation include the tree's leaves dying and small piles of insect waste and pitch at the base of the tree. Spruce beetles are larger than most bark beetle species, and they range in color from reddish-brown to black. Female beetles lay their eggs in a vertical "gallery" they create, and the larvae tunnel farther into the host tree, causing significant damage.
Pine Shoot Beetles
Female pine shoot beetles lay their larvae between the bark and the sapwood of severely weak trees. They also attack stumps and logs, which allows them to travel great distances on infested pine furniture. Otherwise, these small beetles rarely travel half a mile during their lifetimes. Adults frequently fly to the top of healthy trees and survive off their shoots. This type of beetle was first seen in the Bangor area of Maine around 2000.
White-Spotted Sawyer
This black beetle has antennae as long as its body and it's covered in white spots. This insect rarely causes death to its host trees. Unfortunately, the burrowing larvae and adults feeding on the twigs allow a fungus to infiltrate healthy trees. White-spotted sawyers are almost identical to the destructive Asian longhorned beetle. Both species are around an inch long as adults, both with body-length antennae and white spots. However, the white-spotted sawyer has a bronze hue to its black coloring, while the Asian longhorned beetle is shiny black. Also, white-spotted sawyers have a white spot at the base of their heads where the wing covers touch. Asian longhorned beetles have a black patch in the same spot.