Subject: Please identify
Geographic location of the bug: Port Aransas Texas
Date: 07/20/2019
Time: 10:47 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: Can you please help identify this bug found in beach house in Port Aransas Texas? There have been two. They are tiny maybe 1-1.5mm in size. Looks like browns in color with some white on one of the heads and second segment then the second hug has white on its second segment too. They look kinda lost not quick to move. Kinda look like some kind of weevil maybe?
How you want your letter signed: Melody Volz
Dear Melody,
This is a very tiny Beetle. Thanks so much for including the human finger for scale. We have attempted an identification for you, but we still do not have an answer. We are confident this is NOT a Weevil. We will attempt to contact some Beetle experts and others who might be able to provide an identification, and perhaps one of our readers will write in with an identification.
Arthur V. Evans responds
Daniel,
This is in the family Latridiidae, possibly in the genus Dienerella. These beetles occur in damp, moldy situations in buildings.
All the best, ART
Arthur V. Evans, D.Sc.
Research Collaborator, Department of Entomology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Update: P.S. I think Cartodere (See BugGuide) might be a better choice!
Ed. Note: According to BugGuide the habitat is “rotting vegetable matter; some species live in houses on damp wallpaper, moldy bread, etc. or otherwise associated with stored products” and they feed on “fungal tissues (slime molds, molds, mildew, spores of “higher” fungi).”
Thank you so much for your help Daniel- I really appreciate it 🙂
Good to know about <iDienerella and Cartodere, I always identify them as Eufallia seminiveus, after Leandro Augusto Ferreira’s help.
That little guy really had me puzzled.
This little beetle is much tricky!!
Please let me know if you got rid of them… i didn’t find any mold in house, our moisture is around 50% and I still find them. It drives me crazy.