Black Carpet Beetle Category: NOLI Minimum Life Cycle: Nine months. Distribution: Cosmopolitan; not injurious to stored grain products. Biology: Larvae - Found in cracks or walls where foodstuffs accumulate. Adults - Emerge in spring and early summer to lay eggs. Black Carpet Beetle (Attagenus megatoma). The black carpet beetle, a dermestid beetle, includes several similar species that may all be referred to as black carpet beetles. They usually have an annual life cycle. The adults feed only on flower nectar, pollen, and free water, while the larvae usually feed on wool, leather, silk, fur, and other animal products. Several species of these insects are found worldwide, but more commonly in temperate areas. The adult females produce a sex pheromone useful in detecting and monitoring the insect (Figure 19). (Slide and top caption from USDA ARS Agric. Handbook No. 500.)

Figure 19. Black carpet beetle.

Index for the Interpretive Line Slides for Insects Chapter 13, Stored Product Management E-912, Stored Product Management Main Home Page P*E*A*R*L (OCES Online Publications) Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources Oklahoma State University