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Photo#45724
Grub like larve - Anthrenus

Grub like larve - Anthrenus
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 4mm
Found this tiny larve crawling on at my front door. I dropped my pen on the way in and bent down to pick it up when I noticed this moving slowly across the mat.
From what I can tell It looks like a grub or maybe even a maggot type. 4mm, tan with hair, little redish brown head, and rear end seems to be more hairy. Maybe 3 or 4 pairs of legs, I can't really tell how many...

If this is a beetle larve how I can rear it? Or give a guess on what it could turn in to?

-Gehan G.

-
Carpet Beetle Lava,
They eat your carpets, but mostly only wool carpet's.
But i dont kill them, i just take them far-away from the house and drop them on the grass, but most of the time just on a stone or in the Mint Patch :)
If you would like to know what it would turn into try searching on Bugguide for Carpet Beetle.
Hope that help's!
^.^

Moved
Moved from Carpet Beetles.

Anthrenus sp.
Anthrenus sp.

Dr. John M. Kingsolver
Florida State Collection of Arthropods
Gainsville, FL

dermestids
In my experience, there is something dead that is supplying food to the larva. A dead mouse in the ceiling, an animal hide, a poorly taxidermied animal mount, etc. will all produce a fair number of dermestid beetles.

You may see more!

Kurt

Bristly
Yes, when they're this bristly I think first of dermestids. On rearing them, since they are a pestiferous family you might try some of the things that they tend to infest, such as wool sweaters, carpets, or animal hide.

--Stephen

Stephen Cresswell
Buckhannon, WV
www.stephencresswell.com

I think I found a match..
Family Dermestidae - Carpet Beetles


If I feed it some meat will it grow. In otherwords how can I get this to adulthood so I can snap some beatle photos. Any idea how long these stay in larval form?

-Gehan Gehale

 
I don't know, Gehan.
Larger dermestids are quite easy to keep as a reproducing colony. I thought my small one had pupated inside its larval skin, but maybe it simply died. I recently dug through the material in the small plastic container in which I was trying to rear it, found it, and dropped it back into the container. It sounded like a hard seed hitting the bottom. I suspect it is dead and dessicated.

That said, I fed it and watched it grow, giving it high-protien foods like a piece of puppy chow and a couple pellets of dried shrimp fishfood, and just a little water from time to time. They don't need much. After all, this one was found living in the glass shade of a ceiling light, eating the dead bugs there. You might feed yours some dead bugs...

Good luck.

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