Beat the Beetle

and save

St. Mary's Church, Newent

for the generations to come!

About The Beetle

We have all heard so much about this little beetle who is causing havoc in the church. The name in itself conjures up scenes of tiny little feet with a tortoise-like shell, say in perhaps dark mahogany brown scurrying around in dark corners almost as frightening as Dracula crossed with Hannibal Lectern. But what are the actual facts and why attack our lovely beamed and beautifully crafted woodwork?.

Latin name: Xestabium rufouillosum.

Size of adults: 3/8ths inch

Characteristics: Adult reddish brown to nearly black. Larvae nearly white.

Hood-like prothorax usually encloses head, hiding it from the top.

. An anoboid or borer insect of the family Anobiidae. It makes a ticking or clicking sound by bumping its head or jaws against the side of the tunnels as it bores into old wood and furniture.

It is in fact a type of woodworm attracted by damp but much more scary and infinitely harder to get rid of.

Habitat: Soft or hardwoods with a moisture content of approximately 20%. In fact their favourite habitat is old oak. It is found around the world and the United States have the pleasure of playing host to 310 sspecies!

Biology: Nocturnal.

Females lay between 20 - 60 eggs in the cracks of wood just under the surface and also in the splinters of unsealed wood. The new born beetle burrows into the wood and attacks it from the inside.

The adult bores straight to the surface and exit. The adult does not eat when reaching the surface, but instead starts looking for a mate. Development from egg to adult takes about one year in good conditions. The female usually lays her eggs on the same wood from which she emerged looking for a mate.

The name refers to the mating call - a tapping sound made by their jaws hitting the wood walls of their tunnels. It could only be heard during silence so would be noticed by those sitting in vigil with the dead as they lay in church the night before the funeral.

Superstition goes that if you heard a deathwatch beetle whilst sitting with a sick person, then the invalid would soon die, giving another supposed origin for the name.

All Saints Church in Deansway, Worcester centre [built 1739-1742] had extensive restoration work done during November to March last year and spent more than£250,000 to combat this little creature.

The beetle is a scary looking insect with monster-like features, long feelers, sturdy little legs and almost no eyes.

Thanks to Jenny Grassom for this account.

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