Categories

Tags

Bed Bug or Flea?
My wife found this in our newborn twins’ nursery. We live in NYC and do not have pets. Very rarely have we gone out because it is cold out! Threw out the day bed and sanitized the nursery this morning. We thought it was a bed bug but it doesn’t have a head and the legs are long. Could it be a flea although it seems large? Definitely not a lady bug. It has long legs, no distinguishable head. It is flat along the sides. Can’t see if it has pincers. What do you all think?
Regards,
Jeffrey Hwang

Hi Jeffrey,
This is a wonderful image of a Spider Beetle in the genus Mezium. They are common household pests that infest grain products. It is harmless to your twins.

Expert Update: (05/22/2008) spider beetle errors
Dear Bugman,
I believe I had written earlier when looking at many of the spider beetle pictures. Almost all of the shiny brown, globular body, images are of Gibbium aequinoctiale and not Mezium species. There is a combined 2 image photo (finger and beetle & 2 beetles) of Mezium : the answer was posted by Eric Eaton, I believe. Gibbium species do not have a velvety covering on the thorax, Mezium species do. You should correct your website postings so people will have a better idea of what they have been finding. Best regards,
Lou
Louis N. Sorkin, B.C.E.
Entomology Section
Division of Invertebrate Zoology
American Museum of Natural History
New York

Dear Lou,
Thanks so much for resending this vital correction to our website. We really appreciate your expertise on this. We sincerely hope that addressing you with such familiarity doesn’t detract from your professional status.

0   I like This

Related Posts

• 
  (05/20/2006)
  Spider Beetle
• 
  (10/03/2005)
  Spider Beetle
• 
  (08/10/2005)
  Spider Beetle
• 
  (03/14/2005)
  Spider Beetle