Larder Beetles In Carpet

Black carpet beetle larvae.

Larder beetles in carpet.

While they can harm home support. Larder beetles enter homes through open doors or cracks in walls during the late summer and fall to escape cold weather. Larder beetles are a type of carpet beetle but they only attack woolens that have been soiled with blood fish oils or other high protein stains. The adult larder beetle is about 1 3 of an inch in length.

How serious are larder beetles. The adult beetles are a bit smaller. Larder beetles overwinter as adults in protected places. Three of the most common species the hide larder and black larder beetles are known scientifically as dermestes maculatus dermestes lardarius and dermestes ater.

Larder beetles and their larvae are not tiny really the larvae range from 3 4 to almost an inch in length. Their name comes from the practice of ages past where before refrigeration households had larders to store cured meats cheeses and the like along with other. They overwinter near food sources particularly in kitchen pantries. If you find something that looks similar but is smaller grain of rice size it s more likely a carpet beetle both insects are a bummer to be infested by.

The larder beetle larvae are about an inch in length. The larvae have two small pincers at the end of their body. Close relatives of the larder beetle are used to clean the flesh from skeletons used in museums. The wings are covered in small yellow hairs.

Larder beetles really common in homes especially during the colder months since they search out warmer living arrangements like most bugs when the deep freeze of nature rolls around. They are small in size only about to long and oval shaped. The adult larder beetle is brown colored and has a light to yellowish mark on the midsection of their bodies. Dermestes beetles are considerably larger than the previous species being between 7 and 10 mm elongate oval in shape and are covered with hairs that are closely appressed to the body.

All three belong to the insect family called dermestidae and are related to carpet beetles a more common group of indoor insect pests.