The varied carpet beetle is a tiny, round beetle covered in a patchwork of white, brown and yellow scales. The adults are harmless flower visitors, but their fuzzy larvae, known as “woolly bears,” are one of the most common household pests, chewing holes in wool, fur, feathers and silk. Varied carpet beetle Quick Facts Common…
Rove beetles are a huge family of mostly small, slender beetles with very short wing covers that leave most of their abdomen showing. With more than 60,000 known species, they make up the largest family of beetles on Earth. Rove beetle Quick Facts Common name Rove beetle Scientific name Staphylinidae Kingdom Animalia Phylum Arthropoda Class…
The orange ladybug most people see is the Asian lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis), also called the multicolored Asian lady beetle or, in Britain, the harlequin ladybird. It is a hungry hunter of aphids, but it is also famous for crowding into houses in autumn. A few other ladybugs are orange too, and you will meet…
Quick answer: Japanese beetles are controlled by hand-picking them into soapy water in the morning, covering plants with netting, and using traps carefully. Treating lawns for their grubs, for example with beneficial nematodes, helps reduce next year’s beetles. The Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) is a shiny green and copper beetle that eats the leaves and…
Flour beetles are tiny reddish-brown beetles that live in stored food such as flour, cereal and pasta. They belong to the genus Tribolium, part of the huge darkling beetle family, and they are among the most common pantry pests in the world. Flour beetle Quick Facts Common name Flour beetle Scientific name Tribolium Kingdom Animalia…
“Flour weevil” is a nickname people use for the tiny snouted beetles they find in flour, rice, pasta and other pantry foods. Most of the time, these are grain weevils in the genus Sitophilus, which actually breed inside whole grains rather than in flour itself. Grain weevils (flour weevils) Quick Facts Common name Grain weevils…
Fireflies, also called lightning bugs, are beetles that can make their own light. On warm summer evenings, they flash yellow-green signals across fields and forests to find a mate. One of the best-known groups in North America is the genus Photinus. Firefly (lightning bug) Quick Facts Common name Firefly (lightning bug) Scientific name Lampyridae Kingdom…
Quick answer: Adult carpet beetles do not bite people. The itchy red bumps blamed on them usually come from contact with the tiny hairs of their larvae, which can irritate skin, or from other pests such as bed bugs or fleas. Carpet beetles are tiny, round beetles that sneak into homes and nibble on wool,…
Carpet beetles are tiny, round beetles that sometimes sneak into homes, where their larvae chew on wool, fur, feathers and other animal materials. They belong to the family Dermestidae, along with their relatives the larder beetles and hide beetles. Carpet beetles Quick Facts Common name Carpet beetles Scientific name Dermestidae Kingdom Animalia Phylum Arthropoda Class…
A carpet beetle larva is the young, worm-like stage of a small beetle that lives in many homes. These fuzzy little creatures are the ones that chew holes in wool sweaters, rugs and other things made from animal fibers. The adult beetles do no harm indoors at all. Carpet beetle larva Quick Facts Common name…
The boll weevil is a small beetle with a long snout that feeds on cotton plants. It may be tiny, but it became one of the most destructive farm pests in American history. Its scientific name is Anthonomus grandis. Boll weevil Quick Facts Common name Boll weevil Scientific name Anthonomus grandis Kingdom Animalia Phylum Arthropoda…
Not all ladybugs are red. The twice-stabbed lady beetle, Chilocorus stigma, is a shiny black ladybug with one bright red spot on each wing cover. It is native to North America and is a helpful predator of scale insects that damage trees and shrubs. Twice-stabbed lady beetle Quick Facts Common name Twice-stabbed lady beetle Scientific…