Wood-destroying Beetle Treatment Incidence in Arkansas and Georgia During 1962 and 1967 With Estimated Losses Caused by Beetles for II Southern States During 1970

Abstract

Estimates derived from 1962 and 1967 State regulatory records indicate that as many as 53,000 treatments for wood-destroying beetles were performed in 11 Southern States in 1970. Cost of these treatments was probably about $4.9 million. With inflation and the fact that beetles can no longer be treated in combination with termite treatments, 1976 losses were estimated at $12.9 million. Records in Georgia and Arkansas, States with the most thorough records, showed that percentages of houses with crawl spaces treated were 0.18 percent in Georgia and 0.03 percent in Arkansas. About 9.2 percent of the reported treatments in the two States during 1967 were for beetles and termites treated together and about 78 percent of all beetle treatments were in combination with termite treatments. That over 99 percent of 673 beetle infestations inspected by Arkansas inspectors during 1962 and 1967 were located in crawl spaces beneath houses suggests that anobiid beetles had caused them. Personal inspection of 31 houses in Arkansas, 77 in Georgia, and 68 in Mississippi indicated that over 99 percent of the confirmed infestations were by the Anobiidae, primarily Xyletinus peltatus (Harris). Beetle infested houses ranged from 9 to lOO+years old, with an average of 38 years in Georgia and 36 years in Mississippi.

Citation

Williams, Lonnie H.; Smythe, Richard V. 1978. Wood-destroying Beetle Treatment Incidence in Arkansas and Georgia During 1962 and 1967 With Estimated Losses Caused by Beetles for II Southern States During 1970. Res. Pap. SO-143. New Orleans, LA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment Station. 12 p.