Black carpet beetle
The black carpet beetle is a tiny, shiny black beetle, only a few millimetres long. Its babies are hairy, reddish brown larvae. They love to nibble on wool carpets, sweaters and furniture, so people do not like finding them at home.
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Fun facts
A new beetle comes out white and slowly turns black. That is how it got its name.
Its larva can stay a larva for up to three years if there is not much food.
When food runs out, a larva can shed its skin and become smaller again instead of bigger.
The grown-up beetle lives only a few weeks, just long enough to lay eggs.
One female can lay 50 to 100 eggs.
Most asked questions about Black carpet beetle
?Do black carpet beetles bite?
No. They do not bite people. The trouble is that their larvae eat wool carpets and clothes.
?What do black carpet beetles eat?
The larvae eat natural fibres like wool, and also pet food. The adults barely eat, though outside they sometimes nibble pollen.
?How big is a black carpet beetle?
The beetle is only 3 to 5 millimetres long. The larva can grow to about 7 millimetres.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Attagenus unicolor
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Dermestidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Dermestidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, North America
Where the facts come from
- Black carpet beetle (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Caroline Harding, MAF. CC BY 3.0 au, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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