The varied carpet beetle anthrenus verbasci is a 3 mm long beetle belonging to the family dermestidae they are a common species often considered a pest of domestic houses and particularly natural history museums where the larvae may damage natural fibers and can damage carpets furniture clothing and insect collections.
Common furniture beetle larvae. The common furniture beetle has a somewhat round black head and elongated body. Verbasci was also the first insect to be shown to have an. Larva are the stage which cause all the damage. They eat just about anything.
They are also the cause of woodworm in many wooden items. Within homes and other buildings the furniture beetle is an exceedingly common pest. The common furniture beetle or common house borer anobium punctatum is a woodboring beetle in the larval stage it bores in wood and feeds upon it. She will lay 50 to 100 eggs on surfaces that she feels will provide good food for the larva when they hatch.
Damp wood in crawl spaces. These dark brown or black beetles are also called wood boring beetles or house borers. The holes are caused by the adults chewing through the wood s surface after metamorphosis to emerge from inside the wood and mate. Furniture beetle problems once inside the home female furniture beetle will look for a place to lay eggs.
Adult anobium punctatum measure 2 7 4 5 millimetres 0 11 0 18 in in length. As common furniture beetle larvae or woodworms grow they eat their way to maturity leaving tiny holes in the surfaces of wood as they exit the wood as adults. As its name suggests the common furniture beetle anobium punctatum can damage wooden structures and furniture. After exiting the wood usually from the spring to early fall adult common furniture beetles mate and the fertilized females lay up to fifty eggs in tiny crevices in your home s wood.
Where to look for infestation. Infestations can damage decorative woodwork musical instruments wooden tools and on a more serious scale wood flooring joinery and structural timbers. The larvae feeding on the interior of the wood create the frass.