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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Bostrichoidea » Carpet Beetles (Dermestidae)

Family Dermestidae - Carpet Beetles

Classification · Other Common Names · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Food · Internet References · Works Cited

Carpet Beetle - Dermestes talpinus - female

Beetle (apparently sucking my apple tree - Dermestes maculatus

Dermestes talpinus or undulatus? - Dermestes undulatus

Speckled beetle on Heracleum flowers - Anthrenus

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga

Superfamily Bostrichoidea

Family Dermestidae (Carpet Beetles)

Other Common Names

Dermestid Beetles, Skin Beetles, Larder Beetles

Explanation of Names

Dermestidae Latreille 1804

see Dermestes

Numbers

124 spp. in 18 genera in NA(1)(2); global fauna still poorly known, with hundreds of undescribed spp. and ~1000 described(3); checklist of our fauna in (4)

Overview of our fauna

Family Dermestidae

Tribe Dermestini Dermestes

Tribe Thorictini Thorictodes · Thylodrias

Tribe Trinodini Apsectus

Tribe Attagenini Attagenus · Novelsis

Tribe Anthrenini Anthrenus · Thaumaglossa · Cryptorhopalum · Orphinus · *Ctesias · Trogoderma · Dearthrus · Megatoma · Pseudohadrotoma · Reesa · Caccoleptus · Phradonoma

=============Classification per(5)==========

Family DERMESTIDAE

Subfamily DERMESTINAE Latreille 1804

==Tribe Dermestini Latreille 1804

Subfamily THORICTINAE Agassiz 1846

==Tribe Thorictini Agassiz 1846

Subfamily ORPHILINAE LeConte 1861

Subfamily TRINODINAE Casey 1900

==Tribe Thylodriini Semenov 1909

==Tribe Trinodini Casey 1900

Subfamily ATTAGENINAE Laporte 1840

==Tribe Attagenini Laporte 1840

Subfamily MEGATOMINAE Leach 1815

==Tribe Anthrenini Gistel 1848

==Tribe Megatomini Leach 1815

Size

2‒12 mm

Identification

Adult: body convex, oval, or elongate-oval, usually with hairs or scales; antennae clubbed

Larva: mostly covered with long hairs and hair tufts(6)

The best online visual guide is (7); helpful guide to synanthropic spp. is (8)

Range

cosmopolitan

Habitat

larvae and adults found on carcasses, dry museum specimens, homes, stored food, in nests of bees/wasps/ants, birds, mammals, etc.; adults of some spp. frequent flowers

Food

dry high-protein materials (skin/flesh of dead animals, dandruff, feathers, hair, mantid egg cases, dried foods, wool/silk, etc.); a few spp. prey on wasp & bee larvae or spider eggs; most smaller species feed on pollen/nectar(1). Some species are probably specialists of mantis oothecae (Thaumaglossa), others (Apsectus) feed on spider webbing and dried spider eggs.

Internet References

Dermestidae of Texas (Quinn 2017)

Works Cited

1.	American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea Arnett, R.H., Jr., M. C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley and J. H. Frank. (eds.). 2002. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL.

2.	A new U.S. and Florida record for Caccoleptus (Bicaccoleptus) kacka Háva, 2009 (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) Háva, J. and M.C. Thomas. 2012. Insecta Mundi 0237: 1–3.

3.	Háva J. (2018) World catalogue of the Dermestidae

4.	Annotated checklist of Nearctic Dermestidae with revised key to genera Beal, R.S. 2003. The Coleopterists Bulletin, 57: 391-404.

5.	Family-group names in Coleoptera (Insecta) Bouchard P, Bousquet Y, Davies A, Alonso-Zarazaga M, Lawrence JF, Lyal CH, Newton A, Reid CA, Schmitt M, Ślipiński SA, Smith A. 2011. ZooKeys 88: 1–972.

6.	A phylogenetic study of Dermestidae (Coleoptera) based on larval morphology Kiselyova T., McHugh J.V. 2006. Sys. Entomol. 31: 469–507.

7.	Herrmann A. (200?-) Pictures of some dermestid species

8.	Handbook of urban insects and arachnids: A handbook of urban entomology Robinson W.H. 2005. Cambridge University Press.

Contributed by Cotinis on 1 September, 2004 - 6:59pm
Additional contributions by Robin McLeod, Phillip Harpootlian, McClarinJ, Bbarnd, Mike Quinn, v belov, KenW, Arturo Santos
Last updated 15 November, 2023 - 7:33pm

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