a. Zool. Also 9 erron. zylo-, xilo-. [f. mod.L. xylophagus, f. Gr. ξύλον wood + -φαγος eating: see -OUS. Cf. F. xylophage.] Feeding upon wood, as an insect larva, or boring into and destroying wood, as a mollusk or crustacean. So Xylophagan, a. belonging to the Xylophaga or Xylophagi, names in different classifications for various groups of insects whose larvæ devour wood; sb. an insect belonging to one of these groups; Xylophage, a wood-eating insect.
1842. Brande, Dict. Sci., etc., *Xylophagans, Xylophaga … a tribe of Coleopterous insects,… also … a family of Dipterous insects.
1877. Kurz, Flora Brit. Burmah, I. 339. Wood … of a coarse fibre, soon attacked by *xylophages.
1739. Phil. Trans., XLI. 279. This *Xylophagous Worm.
1835–6. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., I. 704/1. The … xilophagous Conchifera. Ibid. (1836–9), II. 862/1. The … Xylophagous insects of this tribe … are exceedingly destructive.
1864. Owen, Power of God, 16. Tree-destroying Xylophagous larvæ.
