CreatureData

House borer

Anobium punctatum (De Geer, 1774)

Status not recordedbeetles

The house borer (Anobium punctatum) is a species in the family Ptinidae, order Coleoptera. Recorded adults reach 2.84 mm in length.

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Quick facts about the house borer

Weight
Not recorded
Length
2.84 mm
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Herbivore
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the house borer?

HOUSE BORER · LENGTH 2.84 MMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 2.84 mm, the recorded maximum length of the house borer is about 0.2% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the house borer live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the house borer as introduced in 4 countries, and flagged as invasive in 2 of them.

  1. Australiainvasive
  2. Canary Islandsinvasive
  3. Spain
  4. United States

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the house borer endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the house borer classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumArthropoda
  3. classInsecta
  4. orderColeoptera
  5. familyPtinidae
  6. genusAnobium
  7. SpeciesAnobium punctatum (De Geer, 1774)

Synonyms Anobium amplicolle, Anobium caelatum, Anobium cylindricum, Anobium domesticum, Anobium latreillei, Anobium pertinax, Anobium pumilum, Anobium ruficolle, Anobium ruficorne, Anobium striatum, Birrhus domesticus, Hadrobregmus pumilum, Ptinus cylindricus, Ptinus punctatus

Other names and names in other languages (35)
  • Common furniture beetleEnglish
  • Common furniture-beetleEnglish
  • Death-watch beetleEnglish
  • Furniture beetleEnglish
  • WoodwormEnglish
  • ঘুণ পোকাBangla
  • Corc comúCatalan
  • červotoč pronikavýCzech
  • BogormDanish
  • Gewöhnlicher NagekäferGerman
  • tupajumiFinnish
  • anobie ponctuéFrench
  • HoltwiremNorthern Frisian
  • Míol críonIrish
  • TarloItalian
  • Baldinis skaptukasLithuanian
  • stripet borebilleNorwegian Bokmål
  • MeubelkeverDutch
  • kołatek domowyPolish
  • Besouro-dos-móveisPortuguese
  • Мебельный точильщикRussian
  • seaidnerávdiNorthern Sami
  • črvotoč pásikavýSlovak
  • navadni trdoglavec / kukec / mrtvaška uraSlovenian
  • strimmig trägnagareSwedish
  • 家具窃蠹Chinese
  • Almindelig borebilleDanish
  • Gemeiner HolzwurmGerman
  • Gemeiner NagekäferGerman
  • HolzwurmGerman
  • Petite vrilletteFrench
  • DoodskloppertjeDutch
  • Gewone houtwormDutch
  • Gewone houtwormkeverDutch
  • Шашель / Мебельный точильщикRussian

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the house borer

Other species in the same genus Anobium.

CompareHouse borer vs Anobium angulareHouse borer vs Anobium confertumHouse borer vs Anobium hederaeHouse borer vs Anobium imperator

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the house borer?

An adult house borer measures 2.84 mm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the house borer an invasive species?

In some places. The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species flags the house borer as invasive in 2 countries: Australia and Canary Islands. It lists it as introduced in 4 in all.

What kind of animal is the house borer?

The house borer (Anobium punctatum) belongs to the family Ptinidae in the order Coleoptera.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). House borer (Anobium punctatum). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/house-borer

MLA

“House borer (Anobium punctatum).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/house-borer.

BibTeX
@misc{house_borer_2026,
  title = {House borer (Anobium punctatum)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/house-borer},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}