Bug I have never seen before
Location: Ohio
September 24, 2011 4:06 pm
I first found this bug last night when I got some bedding out of my daughter’s closet. Only saw one, but then I saw two more this afternoon in a laundry basket in the basement. Any idea what this is?
Signature: Megan
Bed Bug, Carpet Beetle Larva or other???
Hi Megan,
There is not enough detail in your photo for us to say with any certainty what the identity of your insect might be, but two possibilities are a Bed Bug or a Carpet Beetle Larva. A better photograph would help.
I know for a fact that it isn’t a bed bug. Have too much experience with those so I know exactly what those look like! I looked up carpet beetle larva and found this picture (attached). It looks like the bug on the left. Now to research these things and find out more about them. Thank you!
1
No Clue
Location: Western Massachusetts
September 11, 2011 1:41 am
Hello Mr. Bugman, I have searched the Internet trying to identify this crazy little bug. It was found under the covers of a bed that’s not used very often. It has little hairs all over its carrot shaped body and long grey hairs that protrude from it’s hind section. Turned over, it looks like six legs near the widest part, or head section. I could only see these features with a jeweler’s loop. I would say the bug measures 3/64” wide x 1/4” long half body half tail. Thanks for the help
Signature: Bugman
Carpet Beetle Larva
Dear Bugman,
Just yesterday we posted another image of a Carpet Beetle Larva. We believe your Carpet Beetle Larva is the larva of a Black Carpet Beetle in the genus Attagenus based on this image posted to BugGuide.
1
Centipede?
Location: Eastern PA
September 10, 2011 5:30 pm
Hi bugman,
Found several of these bugs alive, indoors, in Eastern Pennsylvania, today (middle of September). Sorry, I didn’t think to include something for scale. The thing is quite small– 1/4” to 1/2” range.
TIA!
Signature: John
Carpet Beetle Larva
Hi John,
You have Carpet Beetle Larvae, common household pests with a cosmopolitan distribution. Here is a very similar looking Carpet Beetle from Iran. Try vacuuming more often and remove all pet hair.
little bugs in my bed and cupboard.
Location: West Virginia
August 9, 2011 1:07 pm
My wife and I found these tiny brown beetle looking bugs in our bed and cupboard. Their body is in two sections, head then body. They also bite.
Signature: willyp
Drugstore Beetles
Hi willyp,
These appear to be Drugstore Beetles to us. Drugstore Beetles are generically and unscientifically categorized on our site with other small but unrelated insects that infest stored foods in the pantry. According to BugGuide: “larvae feed on prescription drugs, flours, dry mixes, breads, cookies, spices, chocolates and other sweets, plus a variety of “non-food” items (see Remarks section below) adults do not feed … Larval non-food material includes wool, hair, leather, horn, and museum specimens. Larvae have been known to bore into books, wooden objects, and, in some cases, tin or aluminum foil and lead sheets.” You can start by checking the pantry for food items that are infested.
2
Wool eating caterpilar
Location: New York City
August 5, 2011 6:13 pm
Have these wool eaating caterpilars in my closets. What are they? Never seen any moths but occasionally see a small ladybug sized beetle which I suspect is the same animal.
Just to let you know that the caterpillar is about 1/8 inch long.
Signature: NYC
Furniture Carpet Beetle
Dear NYC,
This is most certainly a Carpet Beetle and a Carpet Beetle Larva, and it very closely resembles a Varied Carpet Beetle, Anthrenus verbasci , however, the larva is too dark to be that species. It is highly unlikely that you would have the larvae of one species in your closet and the adult of another species, so we continued to research. We learned upon reading about the Varied Carpet Beetle on BugGuide, that it looks very similar to the Furniture Carpet Beetle, Anthrenus flavipes, but alas, BugGuide has no photos of the Furniture Carpet Beetle. We did find a photograph on IPM images, that is credited to Clemson University – USDA Cooperative Extension Slide Series, that shows the Furniture Carpet Beetle and its Larva, and we believe they match your individuals. Carpet Beetle Larvae do feed upon wool, though the adults feed on pollen. We did locate an awesome webpage entitled Urban Entomologywritten by Walter Ebeling that is on the UC Riverside Entomology website. Here is what it says about Carpet Beetles: “Four species of carpet beetles comprise not only the most important group of fabric pests, but also the group that is most difficult to control. The adults feed largely on pollen and nectar, and may enter homes in spring and early summer. All damage (figure 200) is done by the larvae, which develop in dark, undisturbed locations. Unlike clothes moth larvae, they spin no webbing, but their hairy cast skins and their sandlike pellets (shown in the figure; often the color of the fabric eaten) are evidences of infestation. The cast skins look much like live larvae, and may give the casual observer the impression that there is a greater infestation than is actually present. Pupation takes place in the last larval skin, and the adult may remain in the partially shed pupal skin for as long as 3 weeks. Evidence of a carpet beetle infestation may be the presence of the small, adult beetles flying to windows or larvae wandering from room to room. The adults resemble lady beetles in shape. The source of a carpet beetle infestation is sometimes difficult to find. For example, one pest control operator treated an office building 3 times, each time failing to find the source of the beetles seen by the occupants. On the fourth attempt, he traced the beetles to a telephone cable in the wall, where the insects were discovered to be feeding on the insulation.” The Urban Entomology page also states this, which supports our identification: “Mature larvae are darker than those of the varied carpet beetle, and are able to run swiftly.”
Furniture Carpet Beetle Larva
Wow, that was quick! Thanks!
help!! bedbugs? body lice? help please!!
Location: southern Maryland
August 5, 2011 5:29 pm
Please help, my husband’s niece house sit for us & the next day after being home we found all these little bugs on top of the bed. We thought they were baby dog ticks round & black grey in color. We vacuumed them up & stripped the bed. The next day we came home to them on the bed again & I went into overdrive cleaning, even encased our bed. I have bites on my, neck, shoulders & around hairline. My husband & daughter have no signs….I. have checked our heads for lice & nothing!! I am losing my mind over this & getting tired of our nightly ritual of bed cleaning. We live in southern Maryland. I am also submitting a pic of a black bug we have seen a lot of, that bug is upside down in the pic….thank you!!
Signature: desperately need help
Thing found on the bed
Dear desperately need help,
We cannot make out any details in the thing you found on the bed. Did they move? Are you certain they were living things? We sometimes get reports of Tropical Fowl Mites or Tropical Rat Mites entering homes and biting the occupants, but this generally happens if there was a bird nest on the roof or a rat’s nest the attic, and the occupants “flew the coop”, leaving nothing else for the Mites to feed upon. Again, we cannot make out any details in your photo to be certain. Here is a link to Biting Mites in the home from CityBugs website. The second creature is a Grain Weevil, and it may be infesting stored grain products in the pantry or pet foods including bird seed. You will need to find the source of the infestation to eliminate that problem. Just discard the infested food products. Here is a recent posting on Grain Weevils.
Grain Weevil
help!!! bedbugs? body lice? please help
Location: southern maryland
August 6, 2011 1:33 am
Thank you for responding so quickly! The weivels are an easy fix. The bugs found on bed were alive. At first glance it looked like dirt & then I did think were dead….but they moved very slowly. Sort of just pulling themselves along with their very tiny (many) legs. I took a couple of more pics, hope they help. Also the one in the pic seems to be dried up kind of shriveled…probably from one the many products I used. However my itching has not subsided. Thank you again!
Signature: desperately need help
Unidentified Bed Thing is probably Tick Larva
Hi again desperately need help,
We are sorry, but we cannot tell what this is. It might be a Mite. Perhaps one of our readers will be able to provide some information.
1
Need This Bug Identified, Please
Location: Western New York State
July 8, 2011 7:02 am
Hi! I’m glad I stumbled upon your site. I’m having a problem this year with these particular bugs (beetles, perhaps?) in my home. Once, wandering around in the bathtub and three times scooting around on the kitchen floor. I’ve never seen these before, well, at least not IN my house! What exactly am I dealing with here?
Signature: Betty
Yellow Mealworm Beetle
Hi Betty,
Check the pantry. This looks like an adult Yellow Mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor. The larvae are often sold in pet stores as live food for lizards and other small carnivorous pets. The larvae will also infest stored foods like cereals and grains. There may be a box of long expired food on the back shelf in the pantry that is hosting a thriving Mealworm population. Not eating your oatmeal fast enough? You can verify this identification on BugGuide.
1
Tiny Black Beetle Like Bug
Location: Southern California (Huntington Beach .5 mile from beach)
June 16, 2011 6:17 pm
It is a tiny black bug (less than cenitimeter) that looks simliary to an Emperor Beetle. They are numerous and come out from under the stove and stairs. Exterminator did not know what it was.
Signature: What does this mean?
Grain Weevils
I figured it out. It was a weevil. No need for your assistance. Thank you,
The signature on our form is the place you put the name you would like to be posted with your letter. Some people provide their entire given name, and others prefer to sign with initials. Some of our readers provide a clever moniker in that field. You do have an infestation, but we would strongly urge you not to hire an exterminator. You have Grain Weevils, and you need to find the source of the infestation. Tenting your home will not help with this problem. Grain Weevils often infest birdseed, and pet food, so if you have bargain size items that you have not used up in a timely manner, the Grain Weevils may be reproducing there. They will also infest a wide variety of stored grain products, including big bags of rice. Check the pantry thoroughly. Once you find the food source and eliminate it, things should be fine. Food products often have an expiration date, and at least once a year, you should make an effort to remove old boxes of cookies and crackers and similar items from the kitchen shelves.
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