Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Interactive image map to choose major taxa Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar
Upcoming Events

National Moth Week was July 19-27, and the Summer 2025 gathering in Louisiana, July 19-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27


Species Dermestes lardarius - Larder Beetle

Representative Images

Larder Beetle - Dermestes lardarius Larder Beetle - Dermestes lardarius Larder Beetle - Dermestes lardarius Dermestes lardarius Dermestidae, Larder Beetle, lateral, head & thorax - Dermestes lardarius Dermestidae, Larder Beetle, dorsal - Dermestes lardarius Small Coleopteran - Dermestes lardarius Larder Beetle  - Dermestes lardarius

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga
Superfamily Bostrichoidea
Family Dermestidae (Carpet Beetles)
Genus Dermestes
No Taxon (subgenus Dermestes)
Species lardarius (Larder Beetle)

Other Common Names

Bacon Beetle

Explanation of Names

Dermestes lardarius Linnaeus 1758

Size

7.0‒9.5 mm(1)

Range

Cosmopolitan, synanthropic, adventive and widespread in NA(1)

Food

Adults and larvae found on carrion and in bird and wasp nests; pests of stored animal products such as pet foods, dried meats, and hides; preys on egg masses of spongy moth, Lymantria dispar.(2)

Works Cited

1.Dichotomous key to adults of economically important dermestids (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) of Canada and the United States
Biggs E.M., Herrmann A., Cognato A.I. 2022. CJAI 46: 1‒165.
2.Beetles of Eastern North America
Arthur V. Evans. 2014. Princeton University Press.