The wharf borer, N. melanura, belongs to the insect order Coleoptera, or the beetles. They belong to the family Oedemeridae, which are commonly known as false blister beetles. Wharf borers are present in all the states of the USA except for Florida. It takes about a year to develop from an egg to an adult. The insect is called the 'wharf borer' because the larval stage of this insect is often found on pilings and timbers of wharves, especially along coastal areas. The adult beetles can be identified via a black band across the end of both elytra, or wing covers. In addition, wharf borers can be distinguished from other members of the Oedemeridae family via the presence of a single spur on the tibia of the forelegs, and the distance between both eyes (twice the length of one eye). Eggs are oviposited on rotten wood where larvae hatch and burrow to feed on rotten wood. Adults do not feed and depend on stored energy reserves accumulated during the larval stage. They are considered to be a pest because they damage wood used in building infrastructures.
Read more about Wharf Borer: Identification, Human Impact, References
Famous quotes containing the word wharf:
“They commonly celebrate those beaches only which have a hotel on them, not those which have a humane house alone. But I wished to see that seashore where man’s works are wrecks; to put up at the true Atlantic House, where the ocean is land-lord as well as sea-lord, and comes ashore without a wharf for the landing; where the crumbling land is the only invalid, or at best is but dry land, and that is all you can say of it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)