Please identify these bugs!
Hello Again,
I am very anxious to ask you what are the bugs that I’ve attached. For me, but I am almost too upset to go into the full story of how and how many of these bugs I’ve found in my NYC apartment. I fear that they may be bad for my health. Can you please help me identify, or tell me what they are not. No one’s been able to help me.
Sincerely,
Russell Cowans

Hi Russell,
You have Spider Beetles, Mezium species. According to the Audubon Guide: “These minute, pear-shaped beetles superficially resemble spiders because of their long, thin legs and long threadlike antennae. Most are brownish and less than 1/4 inch long. … Both adults and their C-shaped larvae are scavengers, feeding on dried organic matter, including wook, museum specimens, desiccated animals,l dung, plants, stored seeds, and dried fruits. … Continuous generations as long as food remains available.” So, you had better find the food source. They will not harm you except for your sanity. Good luck.

Hello, It was sure good to hear back from you. I have one question though; do you really think the larvae in the picture is that of the beatle. Dare I say it; after moving into my brothers room, a room which was not clean out for some time-in the bottom corners of a very warm closet, in a dust collection I found scores of shed skin and living larvae. I would come to find this scene in various spots of my house. One area turned up the larvae always in a much smaller state-the bathroom, in particular; by the cat litter. I decided to examine the cat food box (newly bought from the local store) remembering what I read about meal worms etc. I turned over an entire box into my bath tub so that the white background would allow for easy detection of critters, I wasn’t completely surprised to see that out (along with the food) came baby larvae, fast movers, but poor on slick surfaces like a tub. Also, this would be the first time I came across black beatle like bugs. I wondered was the larvae that of the beatles and began wondering if they were spread by my cat! Online, the closet pictures to the black beatles I found and their larvae was a name of Tenebrio beatle and grain beatles? I wondered if I was dealing with two different bugs because, the red little guys I found long after the larvae. Around the time I found the attached picture, this is taken beneath my window sill, the red dots are too small for me to discern any recognizable features, only that I never found them moving always dead or still and they’ve shown up twice. I don’t know what they are/were. Funny, I moved into the living room onto a beach chair to get some sanity, I’m pretty sure they’re back by now.
Russell C

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.

Tiny Black Bug pics on a dime…
Great website, wonderfull resource! We just moved into a house this week I have no idea what these are, but I found about 10 of them around my window this morning lying around barely moving.
Hope you can help,
jesse

Hi Jesse,
This appears to be some species of Grain Weevil, a type of Pantry Beetle. They infest stored grain products. It is possible they were somehow left behind when the previous tenant vacated. Without a food source, they are trying to get outside and are dying.

Help, gross bugs
I’m hoping you can identify these two bugs for me. The small brown and tan ones are suddenly everywhere in my house, but mostly in my kitchen drawers and in the bathtub. The black and red ones are just mean looking, and these two were found dead in the bathtub, although I have seen them around other areas of the house. We live in an old farmhouse, and am hoping you are not going to tell me they are eating my house!!
Paula
Stockton, IL

Hi Paula,
Your small beetle is a type of Pantry Beetle, but we will write to Eric Eaton for more information. He just got back and writes: “The other is the larder beetle, Dermestes lardarius, a frequent pest of stored, dried meat if I recall correctly.”

Wonderful. Thank you. We just found a bunch of cat food that had been pushed under the microwave cabinet, so we are going to clean that up along with getting rid of some “trophys” that my sons and husbands have hanging, hopefully that will take care of the problem. Thank you for getting back to me so quickly!
Paula

ew gross! help!
Hi-
Please help: we have wormy, larva-y, crawly things in our apartment. They are on our bed covers, under them, on our drapes, and on our keyboards. I finally saw some crawling on the ceiling. I spotted on near a hole in the ceiling. We live in Brooklyn, NY, in the top floor apartment with drop-down ceiling right under the attic. There are lots of cracks and holes for them to crawl out of the ceiling. They are yellow-ish in color with dark heads and ends. At the back end, there are 2-3 long attenae. They have many many tiny legs (centipede-ish). They are very small– the larger ones are only a few millimeters long, the small ones are super tiny. I spotted a small black beetle-type bug a few days ago, which I’ve never seen before in this apt. But, only one, so I don’t know if the two are related… We’ve lived here for over a year and a half and have never had bug problems before. Are these bugs beetle larvae? Can you identify them from the below pics? Any tips on getting rid of them? Please help!
Thanks so much,
Angela in Brooklyn

Hi Angela,
You have Dermestid Carpet Beetles, probably genus Attagenus. Adults are shiny solid black or brown beetles. Larvae are slender with long hairs at the end of the abdomen. You first need to find the source of the infestation and then seek profesional help.

house bugs needed to be identified–couldn’t find it in your website and others
Dear Sir/Madam,
We have seen these bugs in our home for two years. We live in an one family house. They seem to come down from the attic above. First we spotted them in the light-cover on our ceiling. We cover our ceiling lights with milky-colored plastic cover. The bodies of these bugs are collected at the bottom of the cover, and some of them were still alive. It seems that they were trying to reach the light, and die there, then fall onto the cover base. Sometimes we see them in our bathtub, trying to get some drink. They are very small, about 1/8 to 1/6 of an inch in width, not including legs and antenna. These images were caught while one of them is crawling on the ceiling. We don’t know what these bugs are feeding on. Could you please help us to identify these bugs?
Thank you very much!
Sincerely,
Hsiling

Hi Hsiling,
You have Spider Beetles from the genus Mezium. They can be found worldwide where grain is stored. They also feed upon dried remains of animals, woolens and other non-synthetic textiles. You will find more images and information on our Pantry Beetle page.

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.

Found in Dried Noodles with mold!
This was the most descusting thing that Ive seen in quite a while. I was grabing a ramen and noticed a mold bag of noddles that had previously been opened. I took a second look and about One Hundred of these tiny little bugs where cralling and falling out of the bag! What are they and How can I get rid of them.
P.S. I decided NOT to eat the ramen.
Kyle G.
Austin, TX

Hi Kyle,
You found Grain Weevils in your Ramen. They are a type of Pantry Beetle easily identified by the snout. Obviously a female beetle got into the bag and layed eggs. This is just one reason there is an expiration date on foods.