Habitat
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Xestobium rufovillosum are found in North America
and were introduced from Europe (Swan and Papp, 1972). In Europe the
death watch
beetle is commonly found in southern England (Arkive images of
life on earth, 2003). They bore in dead trees or old
wood work (Marshall, 2006). They also live in dried animal or
vegetable matter (Evans and
Garrison, 2004). This beetle can also be found in infesting
wood in damp basements or attics. This damp
and
condensation environment allows the beetle to survive under these
conditions. In order to complete its life cycle
Xestobium rufovillosum must be in a wood environment.
Xestobium rufovillosum can survive in twenty degrees
Celsius or above. The moisture can be as little as
fourteen percent in order for the death watch beetle to flourish.
Under these
conditions
the death watch beetle is able to reproduce. When it
reproduces the larvae bury in the timber and start to eat the
wood. This is the ecological niche of the insect and why
they must live in a wooden environment (Leary, 2002).