Dermestidae

Dermestid Beetles
	Anthrenus verbasci
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Infraorder:	Bostrichiformia
Superfamily:	Bostrichoidea
Family:	Dermestidae; Latreille, 1804
Genera
	many, see text

The skin beetles or Dermestidae (Gyllenhaal 1808) are a beetle family. The family includes about 700 species found worldwide. The common names "carpet beetle", "larder beetle", "bacon beetle", "pantry beetle", "museum beetle", or "bow bug" apply more specifically to some of the sub-groups of this family.

They are generally of a compact or round shape, ranging in size from 1 to 12 mm, and of a dark overall color; most are densely covered with scales or setae, some with patterns of white, yellow, red, or brown. The (usually) clubbed antennae fit into deep grooves. The hind femora also fit into recesses of the coxa.

Dermestids have a variety of habits; most genera are scavengers that feed on dry animal or plant material such as skin or pollen, animal hair, feathers, dead insects and natural fibers. Members of Dermestes are found in animal carcasses, while others may be found in mammal, bird, bee, or wasp nests.

They are used in natural history museums to clean animal skeletons. Some dermestid species, commonly called "bow bugs," infest violin cases, feeding on the bow hair.

Thaumaglossa only lives in the egg cases of mantids, while Trogoderma species are pests of grain.

Image gallery

The grub of a larder beetle, (Dermestes lardarius)
Dermestidae damage to a Manduca quinquemaculata in an insect collection
Shows the larva of Anthrenus verbasci beetle
Shows the larva of an Anthrenus verbasci beetle, frass, caste skin & a single grain of blue rodent bait damaged by the larva

Important works

Identification

Hinton, H.E., 1945 A monograph of the beetles associated with stored products. 1, 387-395 British Museum (Natural History), London. Keys to world adults and larvae, genera and species; excellent figures, full species information.
Freude, H.; Harde, K.W.; Lohse, G.A., 1979 Dermestidae. Die Käfer Mitteleuropas 6: Diversicornia (Lycidae — Byrrhidae) 1206 text figs. 367pp. Goecke & Evers. Text in German; the Dermestidae are on pages 304–327.

External links

References

John M. Kingsolver, "Dermestidae", in Ross H. Arnett, Jr. and Michael C. Thomas, American Beetles (CRC Press, 2002), vol. 2.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Ward, Artemas (1911). "The Grocer's Encyclopedia". The Grocer's Encyclopedia.