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Pantry Beetles, Grain Weevils, Spider Beetles, Meal Worms and Carpet Beetles

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Household Pests

What is this little bug? (please help)
Bugman please help!
I live in Philadelphia and I keep finding these bugs in my apartment. I thought they were biting me but I am not sure. I have never seen anything like these things before in my life. Enclosed are two photographs of these bugs. I found them near my bed, which makes me terrified to sleep in it. They are round and shiny like tiny beads and are amber-reddish in color. They have those little legs and they are almost always dead when I find them. Also, when they are held up to the light they are translucent.
Scared in PA!
S.A.

Dear S.A.,
Fear not. These are Mezium Spider Beetles, grain infesting Pantry Beetles. They will infest your stored food, but will not bite you.

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.

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