Larder beetle
The larder beetle is a small dark brown beetle with a pale yellow band across its back. In the band are three black dots in a little triangle. It likes to sneak into houses and pantries looking for dried food.
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Fun facts
Its baby, the larva, is longer than the grown-up beetle and covered in hairs.
The larva has two little curved spines at its back end.
Before turning into a beetle, the larva may bore into wood, cork or plaster.
A female lays about 135 eggs close to food, and they hatch in about 12 days.
Most asked questions about Larder beetle
?What do larder beetles eat?
Dried animal foods like meat, fish, cheese, pet food, skins and feathers.
?Do larder beetles bite?
No, they are harmless to people. They just like to eat our stored food.
?How big is a larder beetle?
It is less than one centimetre long, about 8.5 to 9.5 millimetres.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Dermestes lardarius
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Dermestidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Dermestidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Moisture bug
Where the facts come from
- Dermestes lardarius (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 André Karwath aka Aka. CC BY-SA 2.5, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this 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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