Gold Spot-row-band-dot Carpet Beetle

Attagenus pustulatus · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Dermestidae

Also called: carpet beetle, Black Carpet Beetles

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Gold Spot-row-band-dot Carpet Beetle
Photo: Cecile Roux, CC BY-SA

Attagenus pustulatus is a carpet beetle species in the Dermestidae family. It occurs in South Africa, specifically the Cape and Natal regions.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Attagenus pustulatus belongs to the subfamily Attageninae of the family Dermestidae.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

This beetle is found in South Africa, in the Cape and Natal areas.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 45 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Kentucky, New York, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas, Massachusetts.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Gold Spot-row-band-dot Carpet Beetle photo 3
Photo: NHM Beetles and Bugs, CC BY

Same family (Dermestidae)

Varied Carpet BeetleVaried Carpet BeetleAnthrenus verbasciCan damage your homeLarder BeetleLarder BeetleDermestes lardariusCan damage your homeBuffalo carpet beetleBuffalo carpet beetleAnthrenus scrophulariaeCan damage your homeBlack Carpet BeetleBlack Carpet BeetleAttagenus unicolorCan damage your homeFurniture Carpet BeetleFurniture Carpet BeetleAnthrenus flavipesCan damage your homeWarehouse BeetleWarehouse BeetleTrogoderma variabileCan damage your home

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attagenus_pustulatus

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.