Black Carpet Beetle

[Tech Talk] Occasional Invaders - What's all the fuss about?

For homeowners, invading insects are a nuisance. For food-processing plants, they can be a source of product contamination. For restaurants, they are a nuisance to customers and can contaminate the food being served. Also, they often invade in massive numbers and some release a pungent odor when disturbed. Others impart an unsightly stain when smashed or crushed on a surface, and some will bite and/or can cause allergic reactions.

Which insect? Key identification features of overwintering pests are as follows:

1) Boxelder bugs (Boisea trivittata) and western boxelder bugs (B. rubrolineata). About 3/8- to 5/8-inch long, their reddish marks are distinctive (western boxelder bugs in addition have thin lacy red lines on front wings). Their fecal material may cause a red stain, they can emit a pungent odor if roughly handled and may "bite" on occasion.

2) Brown marmorated stinkbugs (Halyomorpha halys). About ½-inch long, they have a large triangular plate on their back, and broad whitish bands on outer two antennal segments. They emit a pungent odor if roughly handled.

3) Cluster flies (Pollenia spp.). About 3/8-inch long, their thorax (middle portion to which legs and wings are attached) has many short crinkly yellow or golden hairs (which may be lost in older specimens) and a wing with a third, long vein sharply bent or angled forward near its tip. They may move sluggishly when indoors.

4) Multicolored Asian lady beetles (Harmonia axyridis). About 1/4- to 3/4-inch long, their color and number of dark spots varies, their pronotum (area behind head) is ivory with a thick black M-shaped (viewed from rear) or W-shaped (viewed from front) pattern. They exude irritating liquid if roughly handled, occasionally bite and can cause allergic reactions in some people.

5) Western conifer-seed/pine-seed bugs (Leptoglossus spp.). About 1/2- to 3/4-inch long, their long hind legs have a flattened leaf-like structure with a whitish zigzag band across center of their back. They are a nuisance pest.

When does the invasion start? These types of pests invade in the fall when they gather in numbers on the outside of structures. They enter buildings and homes to spend the winter so as to avoid harsh outdoor conditions.

Periodically, during the winter when outdoor conditions briefly warm, they can quickly become more active inside for a short time. Then again in the spring, as the temperature warms to above 60°F, they will temporarily cluster on the outside of the structure during the day and then come back in for the night. Typically, sometime from March to May, once the temperature stays above about 50°F at night, they will begin to leave the structure, their progeny only to return the next fall.

Possibly Black Carpet Beetle | What's That Bug?

These intruders annual household like black carpet beetles, but the quality of the photo is not ideal. It seems there are some disagreements with the shape of the prothorax and the antennae, but we're not sure. We enlisted the help of Eric Eaton. In the meantime you can read about Carpet Beetles Black on BugGuide. Beetle black carpet beetles are sometimes called the fur coat because of damage larvae and hide objects, and they can do considerable damage to museum collections.

Black Carpet Beetle

Buzz, the intimate bond between humans and insects

Economic entomology, Pamphlets

The principal household insects of the United States

Bulletin