Egg sacs?

[Goodfellas]

Hello, just a quick query. I have a 1950's wooden TV and I have found what looks like some white egg sacs. Also, the wood surface next to these sacs seems to have been eroded/eaten away slightly (about 4mms wide), although no holes.
The egg sacs appear to be about 0.5mm diameter.

Could anyone tell me what kind of insect these are from?

And should I be concerned?

Please see the photo below.

Thanks.

Spiders?

[David G4EBT]

Or the common clothes moth perhaps?

Certainly not furniture beetle (woodworm) which you wouldn't see as they're not laid on the surface of timber, but inside it. Hence, infestation usually only becoming apparent towards the end of the life cycle some three years or more later, when the larvae pupate into beetles and emerge through exit holes. The presence of exit holes is usually an indication of the absence, rather than the presence, of woodworm - they burrow out - not in.

I'd just get rid of them - I don't think you need lose any sleep over them.

[Goodfellas]

Great, thank you for confirming my suspicions. I was thinking it maybe something like spiders, but didn't want to put those words in anyone's mouths!

So, whilst on the subject, spiders or moths would eat wood? There's a patch next to it where the surface is eaten away. Very shallow, but about 4 or 5 mm wide. (Not a hole.)

[Aaamusements]

Although I don't think it is, it reminds me a bit of dry rot, which causes spongy growths on, and corrugated gouges in wood.

[Goodfellas]

I agree that it's not dry rot, the rest of the case is unaffected, and this was literally underneath the egg sacs.

[Aaamusements]

Yes and it also requires a high level of moisture.
The eaten away bit is very odd though.

[paulsherwin]

The wood could have been eaten away by something unrelated to the eggs. It's obviously not CFB though, so nothing to worry about.

[Wellington]

It looks to me like whatever creature is responsible has had a go at a seam of glue rather than the wood. It looks like a seam of glue in your first photo. Were they still using glue derived from animals in the 1950s?

They may be egg sacs, but I'm wondering if they're larval cases, left over after the beasts have pupated (and flown, if applicable). I would suspect silverfish (wonderfully ancient beasts), clothes moths or carpet beetle, though the residue in your photos doesn't really match the descriptions I've seen on the internet. A couple or sources of info here and here.

[brenellic2000]

Glue by definition is derived from gelatin from animals or from fish isinglass, so it is edible to many insects and larvae - silverfish love old book bindings and glued bookend covers! And yes, such glues were still used in commercial cabinet making into the 1960s as most were of veneered ply, although by then MDF and resin adhesives were making their presence very much felt.

This is almost certainly a moth or spider, especially if cocooned. A spider indicates a heathy home! 99% of the time the furniture beetle and pin-hole borers only attack damp wood, and there is little sign of that from the photo.

[Refugee]

I once spotted a spider in the act of collecting dust into blobs and depositing the stuff.
No idea why it was doing this but it was obvious what it was indeed doing.
I evicted the spider before it could make too much mess.

[Dave757]

Hi
Perhaps it was constructing a sac to deposit its eggs in!

Kind regards
Dave

[Mike Phelan]

I think we've more or less covered the subject now so we'll veneer over it.