Dermestes ater
species of insect
Dermestes ater is a species of beetle in the family Dermestidae, the skin beetles. It is known commonly as the black larder beetle or incinerator beetle (not to be confused with Dermestes haemorrhoidalis, the African larder beetle, also sometimes referred to as the black larder beetle). It is native to North America, but today it is found nearly worldwide. Like several other dermestid beetles, this species is a common pest of stored products.
Description
The adult beetle is about 7 to 9 millimeters long. It has black or brown elytra and a coating of yellowish hairs. The male can be distinguished from the female by a row of bristles along the abdomen. The larva has long dark bristles. Its body is white except for its head capsule, dorsal plates and urogomphi, which darken in color to black, brown, or reddish as it grows. Adults reach a maximum length of about 14 mm and larvae of about 14 to 17 mm.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 15, 2023. The linked authority identifier is Q2334311. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dermestes ater” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.