Is this woodworm?

Hi all,

I bought a bought a 3 floor house a couple of months ago. My wife has found a lava or caterpillar coming out from under the Scotia laminate beading which is at the edge of the laminate floor.
Previously, she found about 3 of the same lava or caterpillar under the laminate threshold between the dining room and hall. I am attaching pictures of the latest lava.
Does anyone know if this is woodworm? If so what type is it?
If it isn't woodworm does anyone know what it is please?
Obviously we have killed the larvae we have seen.
We have not seen any holes anywhere in the house, but it is possible they could be in the floorboards or stairs on the upper floors as these are carpeted. We have not seen any larvae except on the ground floor which is laminate.
We have a builder coming in January to renovate the place.
Do we need to take urgent action before then? Can we deal with this ourselves or do we need
a professional woodworm guy?
Thanks.

 

The picture isn't clear or detailed enough. I don't even see the head, if there is one. Wood boring beetle larvae typically have a visible, different colored head, sometimes it's wider than the body.

If you find another one, take pics of top and bottom, getting the head parts, if any. Also, legs and body hairs are important for ID.

This may be a fly larva (maggot).

Wood boring beetle larvae will turn into a beetle after pupating. The larvae stay in the wood to pupate, then emerge as an adult beetle. What you're describing about finding 3 larvae out in the open and within close time frame to each other, leads me to think it isn't wood-boring beetle larvae. Save future specimens in alcohol for further ID. County Extension Agents are good at insect ID and will provide an objective opinion. Larvae are difficult to identify and sometimes need to be sent away. Keep us posted.

 

Thanks PA bugman. The first time they were found they weren't in the open but under a piece of

flooring. I found the following pictures from the first larvae my wife found when she picked up the floor laminate threshold which is a strip of laminate flooring that covers the area that divides two ground floor rooms. Please see attached pictures which show the whole length of the insect. Interestingly one of them is a darker colour. is this a different larva or perhaps a pupal stage? Any ideas you have would be very welcome.

 

Better pics, thanks. Have you found any emergence holes in the wood? I don't see any in the pics. They will be roundish to oval shaped coming out of the wood. Wood destroying beetle larvae are typically found when wood is broken open. Bark beetles/larva will be found under bark, but on top of the wood, but they don't infest dried wood/lumber such as our houses.

The last pic is a pupa or cocoon, which is the stage after larva. It looks like a fly pupa to me. Do a search on fly larvae/pupae and see what you think.

Wood destroying insects in general don't like processed woods in any case. The underside grooves could be a desirable harborage for fly breeding (speculating a bit here).

I'm leaning towards a fly larvae/pupa but as I stated earlier, larvae ID is difficult, oftentimes requiring magnification and entomology keys. In view of the drastic difference between wood-boring beetles and flies, I'd suggest gathering specimens and delivering them to the County Ag Extension office, which will be an extension of a state university. Here in PA it is Penn State. Keep us posted if you find new/more evidence and anything you find out from other sources.

 

OP looks to be in the UK, if this is any help. We're a US based message board and insects may differ greatly.

 

Hello again,

Thanks very much for this. There are no holes in the wood, but when they fitted the floor they left a small gap between the laminate beading and the wall which this lava came out. I totally get your reasoning that these are probably fly larvae.
Yes it is correct that I am in the UK, so I will look for someone locally to ID this. I did not realise woodworm differed
here from the US.
Appreciate your help.

 

I don't know if they do or not, but just pointing it out in case. PAbugman did say he didn't think it was a woodworm, so may be a totally different bug there that we don't have here.