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What kind of bug does this?

Jamie Straw

Jamie Straw

Joined
May 28, 2015
Messages
1,607
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Location
Bainbridge Island, WA
Bought a small lot of various wood pieces at our Club auction last night, had madrone, myrtle, buckeye, maple and IDK (I Don't Know) wood in it (and a piece a Aboyna burl 🙂). The picture below is one of the IDK woods -- but it's also "IDK what kind of bug made those big holes lined with white!" White stuff looks almost like plastic.

BugHole1.jpg BugHole2.jpg
 
Sure looks to me like teredo worms, a marine borer that has supposedly sunk more ships than all of the wars, bad weather, and bad decisions combined. It would be confirmed if you found out the wood had come from the ocean or beach.

You mentioned that the white stuff looks like plastic. Try scraping a little. Some marine borers leave a calcite (like a thin clam shell) casing.
 
Jamie Straw said:
Bought a small lot of various wood pieces at our Club auction last night, had madrone, myrtle, buckeye, maple and IDK (I Don't Know) wood in it (and a piece a Aboyna burl 🙂). The picture below is one of the IDK woods -- but it's also "IDK what kind of bug made those big holes lined with white!" White stuff looks almost like plastic.

View attachment 22522 View attachment 22524
Click to expand...

Wood certainly does look like Walnut, as for the hole, I assume that you mean it to be 8mm, rather than .8 mm.

That would make it a BB, that is for Big Bug 😀, could even be a BB as for Boring Bee.
 
Here is Placosternus difficilis, the mesquite borer. Sort of ugly cute.

image.jpeg

The tunnels made by mesquite borers varies, but an average size might be about five millimeters. Their tunnels are usually packed with what they had for lunch ... mesquite. The larvae are plump and juicy and one more reason to wear a face shield.
 
You're welcome, Jamie. I took another look at your photo, and the strange change in direction is consistent with teredoes. They're strange creatures, they have a real love for certain species of wood, and it has nothing to do with how hard the wood is or how many natural pesticides/oils the wood has.

Many people build with teredo wood, and I've very carefully turned a little Sitka spruce with worm holes. I hope you post some finished pictures!
 
Zach LaPerriere said:
You're welcome, Jamie. I took another look at your photo, and the strange change in direction is consistent with teredoes. They're strange creatures, they have a real love for certain species of wood, and it has nothing to do with how hard the wood is or how many natural pesticides/oils the wood has.

Many people build with teredo wood, and I've very carefully turned a little Sitka spruce with worm holes. I hope you post some finished pictures!
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I'm really curious about what this wood is and how it came into our member's hands, seems like it would have been re-claimed, yes? If it is walnut, as speculated above, perhaps a sunken boat?😱
 
Definitely a mystery! I would think probably not a sunken boat, because virtually all wood that goes into a boat is fairly strait grained. I don't recognize the wood at all, but a distant possibility would be a wood that had been used for a piling. If that's the case, it could even be an imported tropical hardwood; though most often pilings are selected for the resistant to marine borers.

It could also have been a log that floated around for a while. Most of the teredo holes I've seen have been in float logs, but those are of course soft woods like Sitka spruce. As my sons jokingly say, "This is a job for the Hardy Boys!"
 
Jamie Straw said:
Bought a small lot of various wood pieces at our Club auction last night, had madrone, myrtle, buckeye, maple and IDK (I Don't Know) wood in it (and a piece a Aboyna burl 🙂). The picture below is one of the IDK woods -- but it's also "IDK what kind of bug made those big holes lined with white!" White stuff looks almost like plastic.

View attachment 22522 View attachment 22524
Click to expand...
Jamie. You are on the coast i believe so the culprit is very likely torredo borer, found in wood that has been in the salt chuck. When freshly cut it can be very stinky!!
 
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