This work was carried out in two stages in six wood industries of Manaus, Amazonas. In the first stage, the handling conditions, wood processing as well as the preventive measures against insect attack were evaluated through a questionnaire. In the second stage an evaluation was conducted on the incidence of insects in 19 forest species utilized by those industries and on the deterioration degree caused by the main species of Coleoptera (beetles) and Isoptera (termites). One family of termites and five to 16 families of beetles were found to cause damage on wood. Out of the thirteen beetles collected, Xyleborus affinis Eichhoff and Platypus parallelus (Fabricius) stand out and were found in 18 wood species. Consequently, they were found to be responsible for most of the wood damages. X. volvulus (Fabricius) and Platypus sp. were found in five species, X. ferrugineus (Fabricius) in three species, Minthea rugicolis Walk, Minthea sp. and Nasutitermes corniger (Motschulsky) in two, and Anoplotermes sp. in one species. The wood species, Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn. and Copaifera multijuga Hayne presented the highest degree of deterioration, caused mainly by Coleoptera, followed by Couroupita guianensis Aubl., Calophyllum brasiliense Cambess., Cedrela odorata L., Hevea brasiliensis Mull. Arg., Hura crepitans L., Hymenolobium sp., Maquira coriacea (Karsten) C.C. Berg, Nectandra sp., Virola surinamensis Warb. and Vochysia sp.
Beetle; termite; survey; wood deterioration
