Black carpet beetle
Scientific name
Attagenus unicolor (Brahm)
Classification
Secondary pest; Grain feeder and scavenger
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Dermestidae
Acronym: AUN
Description
- Adults are uniformly dark brown to black with dark or gold brown hairs.
- Adults fly, are 2.8 to 3.0 mm long and are short lived.
- Larvae are reddish-brown in color reaching a length of 6 to 8 mm.
- Larvae have a tuft of brown hairs at the posterior end.
Images
Similar species
- Alphitobius species
- Dermestes species
- Trogoderma species
Commodities affected
- Feeds on dried plant and animal material
- Can feed on household items including wool articles, some synthetic fibres, cereal products and dried pet food
- Also feeds on barley, peanuts, bran, ground maize, alfalfa meal
- May be a pest in museums, attacking hides, furs, insect specimens, wool articles, oilseeds
Signs of infestation
- Holes in commodity
- Contamination with cast larval skins
Damage
- Damages products by feeding and burrowing in material
How to control
Geographic range
- Is distributed worldwide and found across Canada
Where found
- Found in grain storage in grain dust, debris and spilled grain
Life history
- Beetle can overwinter as either an adult or in the larval stage.
- Developmental temperature ranges from 2o to 25oC.
- Larvae can enter diapause (a dormant state during which development slows or stops) if developmental conditions are unsuitable (low temperatures, short day length, low population densities).
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