Lymexylidae

Ship-timber beetles
Lymexylon navale
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Infraorder:	Cucujiformia
Superfamily:	Lymexyloidea
Family:	Lymexylidae Fleming, 1821
Subfamilia and genera
Atractocerinae Arractocetus Atractocerus Fusicornis Hymaloxylon Raractocetus Urtea Hylecoetinae Hylecoetus (= Elateroides) Lymexylinae Lymexylon Melittommatinae Australymexylon Melittomma Melittommopsis Promelittomma

The Lymexylidae, or ship-timber beetles, are a family of wood-boring beetles, and the sole member of the superfamily Lymexyloidea.

They are 7 to 18 mm long. The larvae bore into living and decaying wood, where they eat the fungi that grow in their tunnels. Some species are pests, killing live trees and damaging timber structures such as houses and ships.

There are 37 species in 7 genera, including:

• The chestnut timberworm, Melittomma sericeum
• The ship timber beetle, Lymexylon navale

Reproduction in Hylecoetus dermestoides

This species has evolved a very interesting relationship with the yeast-like fungus, Endomyces hylecoeti. Every egg the female lays is coated with fungal spores from a pouch near her ovipositor. The larvae hatch and collect some of the spores by staying close to their egg shells for a while before tunnelling into the wood. The fungi grows on the walls of the tunnel the larvae make and it is this the young eat rather than the wood. The fungi requires a good flow of air, so the larvae keep their tunnel free of any debris.

External links

• L. Watson and M. J. Dallwitz, Lymexylidae
• Lymexylidae on ITIS
• A video of Atractocerus brasiliensis, a ship timber beetle in Costa Rica