Ornate carpet beetle
Trogoderma ornatum (Say)

Order: Coleoptera
Family: Dermestidae
Acronym: TOR

Ecology

The ornate carpet beetle is found in North America. In Canada, it is only recorded in southern Ontario. In the United States, it is found in beans, barley, cottonseed pellets, broom corn, beet seed, fish meal, canary grass seed and oats. It is also found to be a pest of museums where it infests stuffed mammals, birds, insect collections and botanical collections. The ornate carpet beetle looks very similar to other Trogoderma species.

Damage

The ornate carpet beetle is considered a minor pest of stored grain. It is a generalist feeder and does not create any distinctive damage. The larva damages stored grain by feeding on the kernel. A sign of infestation is contamination of product with cast larval skins.

Life history

The adult is dark brown with light brown patterns on the elytra. It is oval. It is 1.9 to 3.6 mm in length. It has clubbed antennae. The third segment of its antenna is the same length as the second and fourth segments. The male antennae are also serrated. The adult can fly. The adult feeds on nectar and pollen from flowers.

The adults mate immediately after pupation. The female is larger than the male. She lays her eggs in the food source.

The larva is oval shaped and covered in dense hairs. It is whitish yellow when young and reddish brown when mature. There are tufts of short dense hairs located on the last abdominal segments. The larva moults many times during development. Under adverse conditions, it will moult even more. It can enter a state of diapause if the environment is unsuitable for development. The larva pupates in the last larval skin.

Control

Controlling insect infestations

Images

Ornate carpet beetle