Another bug ID question
April 30, 2018 7:19 PM   Subscribe

What is this bug? I am in Brooklyn. I found the bug on my bed just now (about 10 pm).

If the pictures aren't helpful, I have the bug alive in a plastic sandwich bag for further identification, but of course now I really want to know what it is.
posted by andrewesque to Science & Nature (8 answers total)
 
Response by poster: Sorry, forgot to add that the clearer pictures are closer to the end!
posted by andrewesque at 7:23 PM on April 30, 2018


it's just a carpet beetle.
posted by fingersandtoes at 7:24 PM on April 30, 2018 [4 favorites]


How to Tell the Difference Between the Bug You Absolutely Dread and Justifiably Fear Will Cost Many Hundreds in Fumigation and Hours, Days, Weeks, and Possibly Months in Eradication Thus Giving You a Lifelong Aversion to Curbside Furniture Finds, Further Giving Your Life Over to Mattress Casings and Fearing What Lives in the Cracks of Your Bed Forever vs "oh, it's just a carpet beetle."
posted by peagood at 8:40 PM on April 30, 2018 [2 favorites]


The guide posted above doesn't tell you the most fool-proof method for ensuring it's a carpet beetle and not a bedbug, once you have one captured: crush it. Beetles crunch, sort of like rice crispy. Bedbugs softly squish, like a small bit of citrus pulp (and may well leave a bloody smear).

It does look much more like a beetle to me, but the squish method is fairly foolproof. Also if it's a bedbug, you'll likely find more, as they aggregate and sleep in communal groups during the day*. But carpet beetles can easily be a one-off find, and have no gregarious quasi-social habits.

*(Wherein several biologically fascinating things happen, that all involve stabbing)
posted by SaltySalticid at 9:22 PM on April 30, 2018 [3 favorites]


Don't squish it! That's a carpet beetle. It's 1000% no doubt clearly a beetle and not a bedbug because it has wings (You can see one thin translucent wing poking out from under the back edge of its shell in photos 1, 5, 6, 7, 8). Bedbugs don't have wings. You can let it go, and breathe easy.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 11:57 PM on April 30, 2018 [4 favorites]


That is definitely a carpet beetle and you should definitely squish it.
posted by fancyoats at 4:00 AM on May 1, 2018 [3 favorites]


Unfortunately, carpet beetles are not-great news either. Their larvae chew on your woolens and silks and other natural fibers just like clothes moths. Pictures of carpet beetles and tips on eradicating them.
posted by Liesl at 6:39 AM on May 1, 2018 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: Thanks all -- I had thought it was a carpet beetle (and unfortunately it's the second one I've found in a week, so I'm sure there are more), but I didn't want to mention that in my OP to bias any answers.

I am glad it's not bedbugs, but this clearly means I have to get a leg up on that spring cleaning I've been procrastinating on.
posted by andrewesque at 6:47 AM on May 1, 2018


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