Color: Red-orange with black spots

Size: 1/4 inch

Habits: Feed on other insects. Live outdoors but often enter buildings in late summer and over winter in attics, wall voids, etc. Become active in late winter and invade living areas in large numbers.

Habitat: Not native to New Jersey. Many native species live outdoors but seldom enter buildings.

Threat: No threat to humans

Prevention: Seal cracks and crevices at roof lines of buildings. Sealing often not practical so insecticidal sprays must be applied to entry points in late summer. When found indoors, vacuum them up.

Color: Black carpet beetle is black. Other species are mottled with browns, oranges & whites.

Size: Black carpet beetle up to 3/8 inches. Other species more oval and smaller.

Habits: Feed on a variety of animal and dried plant products including wool, feathers, and silk. The black carpet beetle is more of a scavenger feeding on lint accumulations behind baseboards of older homes. Other carpet beetles can be found on flowers such as Spirea outdoors in the spring.

Habitat: Any dark area containing susceptible food sources.

Threat: Can damage fabrics and museum pieces containing animal products.

Prevention: If storing susceptible items for extended periods, consider cold storage. Unlike clothes moths, dry cleaning will not prevent infestation.

Color: Dark red-brown.

Size: 1/10 inch.

Habits: Live and feed in dry food products of plant origin. Also attack tobacco and spices. Both species fly well and most active at night. Eggs are laid in the food product and all life stages are found there.

Habitat: Any dry food product of plant origin including pet foods, pasta, flour and cake mixes, spices.

Threat: No health threat but can damage food products.

Prevention: Store dry foods in insect-proof containers. So not store products for extended periods of time.

Color: Rust-red.

Size: 1/8 inch.

Habits: Eggs are laid in dry, milled grain flours. Cake mixes, cookies and chocolate are also attacked. The Confused flour beetle cannot fly and is most common in New Jersey. The red flour beetle can fly but is a more southern insect.

Habitat: All stages of the insect can be found in flour.

Threat: Pose no health threats to man. Will damage food stuffs.

Prevention: Keep foods in insect tight containers. Do not store dry goods for long periods.

Color: Varies greatly. Some have bright greens, reds and blues on them.

Size: Varies from ¼ inch to several inches.

Habits: Eggs are laid in or on wood. The newly hatched larvae bore into the wood and feed on it. The life cycle is one year or longer. The adults can fly.

Habitat: Most species attack only living or freshly cut, unseasoned wood. The Asian Long Horned beetle is an example. These borers sometimes emerge from firewood indoors but do no damage. One species, the Old House Borer (Hylotrupes bajulus) infests only seasoned softwoods. This species will reinfest softwoods indoors if the moisture content of the wood is above 10%. This beetle is a major problem for log homes which are not maintained and rain water is permitted to penetrate the wood. Wood which is below 10% in moisture content will not support reinfestation but existing larvae may require many years to reach maturity. Mature larvae can often be heard chewing during quiet hours. This beetle produces oval exit holes when emerging.

Threat: Only the Old House Borer is a threat to structural wood. The other long horned beetles pose no threat to structures.

Prevention: Store firewood outdoors. Keep wood indoors below 10% moisture content (normal wood in structures is between 8 and 10%).

Color: Red-brown to almost black

Size: 1/8 to ¼ inch

Habits: Adult beetles active at night. Lay eggs in cracks and crevices, old exit holes and in pores of wood. Larvae tunnel in the wood and feed on the wood. Life cycle typically requires one year but may be delayed for several years as the wood dries. Frass – digested wood from larvae – fine and pushed from exit holes when adults emerge.

Habitat: Annobiids attack both hard and soft woods having a moisture content above 14%. Lyctids attack only hard woods. Several species native to New Jersey.

Threat: Wood can be reduced to powder over a period of years.

Prevention: Keep wood moisture below 14% to prevent Annobiid attack. Seal the pores of hard woods with polyurethane or other coatings to prevent egg-laying by Lyctids. Hardwood flooring usually infested before installation but emergence occurs several years later.

Color: Rust-red

Size: 1/10 inch

Habits: Live in and feed on dried foods of plant origin. Do not attack whole grains. Adults hide in cracks & crevices when not feeding.

Habitat: Any dried food of plant origin including dried fruit and chocolate.

Threat: Spoils food but no known health threat to man.

Prevention: Store susceptible foods in insect-proof containers or keep in cold storage.

Warehouse Beetles