Carpet beetles can be an annoyance in your home.
Identification carpet beetle nz.
Adult beetles are 2 3 mm varied and 3 5 mm long black and resemble ladybirds in shape.
In new zealand carpet beetles are often found inside homes warehouses museums and other buildings where they may cause serious damage to clothing furs carpets and other stored fabric items.
By way of comparison this is more than all mammal species worldwide or all new zealand plant fish amphibian reptile bird and mammal species combined.
You can buy traps from pest control or pesticide supply stores or online.
The larvae do all the damage the adults only eat pollen.
Carpet beetles will also feed off the felt under furniture and lamps and inside musical instrument cases.
You can also use sticky traps without a hormone to catch beetles particularly ones flying through the windows.
Hormone or pheromone based traps are specific to the kind of carpet beetle species you have.
Carpet beetles are found throughout new zealand and can handle lower humidity than clothes moths so are also found inland from the coast.
Here s what you need to know.
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.
Carpet beetles often confused with bed bugs are small pests that can cause a large amount of damage if left untreated attracted to natural fibers carpet beetles can damage carpets furniture and clothing.
Check the traps 1 2 times a week.
The adult carpet beetle is dark brown to oily black in colour and 3mm to 5mm in length.
New zealand s beetle life is diverse there are more than 4 500 named native species.
Carpet beetle larvae will eat all manner of animal material including wool fur silk felt feathers and leather.
The black carpet beetle the australian carpet beetle the common carpet beetle the varied carpet beetle shown the furniture carpet beetle and a close cousin the fur beetle have all been introduced to new zealand and are frequently found devouring the woollens and carpets of new zealand homes.
The most common carpet beetles in new zealand are the varied carpet beetle anthrenus verbasci and the black carpet beetle attagenus unicolor.
They may eat through your clothes rugs and furniture.
The actual number of new zealand beetle species is likely to be between 6 000 and 10 000.
