Xylophagous

Definition

Feeding primarily or exclusively on wood; describes herbivores that consume lignified plant tissue, living or dead, as their main diet. In entomology, the term distinguishes true wood-feeders from species that merely inhabit or breed in wood without digesting cellulose or lignin. When restricted to dead wood, the condition is often specified as sapro-xylophagous or saproxylic.

Etymology

Greek xylon (wood) + phagein (to eat)

Example

Furniture beetles (Anobium punctatum) and death watch beetles (Xestobium rufovillosum) are classic xylophagous insects, with larvae tunneling through seasoned timber and digesting wood with the aid of symbiotic gut microbes.

Synonyms

• lignivorous

Related Terms

• saproxylic
• xylophagy
• Coprophagous
• necrophagous
• wood borer
• woodworm

Usage Notes

Specialists often reserve 'xylophagous' for organisms that actually consume and derive nutrition from wood, distinguishing them from species that excavate wood merely for shelter or oviposition. The narrower term 'saproxylic' applies specifically to dead-wood associations and may include predators, scavengers, or fungi that do not eat wood directly. In forestry and forest ecology, 'xylophagous' is sometimes used more broadly for any organism damaging living or dead trees.