Carpet Beetles – What’s Eating Your Carpets?
Carpet Beetles – What’s Eating Your Carpets?
Anthrenus verbasci The Varied Carpet Beetle
Carpet Beetles – What’s Eating Your Carpets? The Varied Carpet Beetle (Anthrenus verbasci) is a fairly new pest to the north of Great Britain having been largely confined to the balmy southern climate but now pest controllers in Lancashire, Cheshire and Manchester are increasingly having to deal with this insect pest._
The carpet beetle is a very distinctive, easily recognised beetle that can be a serious problem in the house. It feeds on natural fibres and can eat anything of natural origin, woolen carpets, furniture} and clothing.
The larvae are known as a woolly bear, a common name it shares with the larvae of Pyrrharctia isabella or the Isabella Tiger moth.
The varied carpet beetle was the very first insect to be identified to have a circadian and an annual cycle and to date remains a classic example of circannual cycles in insects.
The Wooly Bear
The larval form of A. verbasci are roughly 4-5 mm in length. The body has a pattern of alternating light- and dark-brown stripes. The body is usually wider at the back than at the front and has 3 pairs of hair tufts on its rear abdomen that can be used for self-defence
Adult A. verbasci range from 1.7 to 3.5 mm in length. Their dorsal surface has scales of two colours, whitish and yellowish-brown. White scales are concentrated along the lateral margins of the pronotum. In addition, their antennae are 11-segmented with a club of 3 segments
_A Verbasci has a very unusual life cycle for an insect, the development from larvae to adult can take anything from 1-3 years, according to the environment in which it finds itself.
Larvae hatch from eggs in the spring, very often they are associated with birds’ nests or around stored natural fabrics Larvae eat natural fibres throughout their larval stage, eventually emerging as an adult. Adults emerge between April and early August, and feed on pollen.
These insect pests cause both physical damage by their larvae eating fabrics and psychological damage from the vast numbers of these pests which can emerge into homes.
When attempting to deal with these pests it is important to lookout for the presence of birds’ nests and remove any nests and feathers etc from the infested before treating with an appropriate insecticide..
It is important to note that in the U.K. legislation affects the removal of birds’ nest, including sparrows and starlings which are two of the common birds which are associated with A.verbasci so professional advice should be sought to avoid [breaking the law.
That Concludes this article entitled - Carpet Beetles - What's Eating Your Carpets?
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