Notes on Insect Damage to East African Timbers

Abstract

The Entomologist of the East African Agricultural Research Institute recently carried out a rapid survey of the timber yards at Dar-es-Salaam, Tangu and Mombasa, and a few sawmills in Kenya and Uganda; in this pamphlet he gives some information on East Africa timber pests and their habits, for the assistance of timber inspectors and managers of sawmills and timber depots. The principal types of damage are described and some account is then given of the beetles chiefly responsible, i.e. flat-headed borers (Buprestidae), round-headed borers (Cerambycidae), Ambrosia beetles (Scolytidae), powder-post beetles (Bostrichidae, Lyctidae and Anobidae). Other pests described are termites, carpenter bees, carpenter moths, bark beetles, shipworms. Measures for preventing or limiting data by timber beetles are described and there are keys for determination of the types of insect damage to timber and of the common insect pests of timber in East Africa.