Larder Beetle

• Dermestid beetles are used routinely in natural history museums to clean skeletons: a colony leaves the bones immaculate without damaging them, something no chemical method matches.
• In forensic entomology its appearance marks a late stage of decomposition, once the body has dried out, and helps estimate the time elapsed.
• Its hairy larvae can bore through lead and insulation to excavate the chamber in which to turn into adults.
• Its name comes from the larder: it feeds on cured meats, hides, feathers, hair and wool stained with blood or sweat.
• That same voracity makes it useful: museums and taxidermists use dermestid beetles to clean the last tissue off skeletons, and call them the museum's volunteers.
• It is a valuable indicator in forensic entomology, because its appearance on a body narrows down the date of death.
• The larva, longer than the adult and very hairy, carries two backward-curving spines on its last segment and bores into wood, cork or plaster to pupate, which adds structural damage.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (insect)

Habitat and environment

Larders, stores, nests and dried carcasses

Size at birth

The larva reaches 12-13 mm just before pupating, longer than the adult itself

Gestation / incubation

The eggs hatch in about 12 days or less; the larval stage lasts from 35 to 80 days, with five moults in males and six in females

Litter / clutch size

About 135 eggs per female, laid in batches of 6 to 8 beside the food source

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (es): Dermestes lardarius · Utah State University Extension · University of Wisconsin Extension · ficha de identificacion de Dermestes lardarius · University of Wisconsin Extension, ficha Larder beetles · Ficha de biologia de Dermestes lardarius (Bennett 2003)

Best time: It overwinters as an adult in sheltered places and in spring actively seeks out protein-rich food sources