Dry rot The term "dry rot", or "true dry rot", refers to the decay of timbers from only certain species of fungi that are thought to provide their own source of moisture and nutrients to cause decay in otherwise relatively dry timber. However, there has been no published experimental evidence to support the phenomenon. In modern texts, the term 'dry rot' is used in reference to damage inflicted by either: "Serpula lacrymans" (formerly "Merulius lacrymans") predominantly in the United Kingdom and northern Europe; and/or "Meruliporia incrassata" (which has a number of synonyms, including "Poria incrassata" and "Serpula incrassata") in North America. Both
Nemapogon granella are uniformly greyish-brown and surrounded by a fringe of long hairs. On the head, the adults have a tuft of yellowish-white hairs. The caterpillar larvae eat rotting wood in the wild, though they prefer bracket fungi, usually Polyporales. Their mainstay food included Polyporaceae such as sulphur polypore ("Laetiporus sulphureus"), dryad's saddle ("Polyporus squamosus") or turkey tail ("Trametes versicolor"), as well as Fomitopsidaceae, e.g. birch polypore ("Piptoporus betulinus"). But they have also been found on "Serpula lacrymans" of the quite unrelated Boletales. Larvae in association with humans will feed on a variety of dry organic material, such as dried fruit (e.g.bilberries,