Bug FAQWarehouse Beetle
Trogoderma variabile · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Dermestidae
Source: Wikipedia
Adult beetles are small, reddish-brown to blackish insects about 3 mm long, while larvae are cream-brown and reach about 6 mm with bristly tips. They live in dry stored products such as grains, flour, nuts, spices and animal foods, and are common in warehouses, granaries and homes. The beetle originated in Central Asia but now occurs worldwide, including Europe, North America and Oceania.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Adults are reddish-brown, dark brown or blackish-brown; larvae are cream-brown to darker brown with long bristles at the abdomen tip.
Source: Wikipedia
Is it a pest in the house?
They are common indoor pests in places where dry stored food is kept.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
Inside they are found in warehouses, granaries, food stores and homes; outdoors in Russia they have been recorded in bee nests.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Eggs are laid in dry material and hatch in about a week at 20-38 °C (68-100 °F); larvae normally pass through six instars and can remain dormant for up to two years in cooler conditions.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Probably native to Central Asia, now widespread across Russia, China, the Middle East, Europe, Central and North America, and Oceania.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 14 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Washington, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Idaho, Kansas, Alaska.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: introduced in United States; introduced in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
How can I tell adult beetles from larvae?
Adults are small reddish-brown beetles about 3 mm long, while larvae are cream-brown, larger (about 6 mm) and have bristly tips on their abdomen.
Source: Wikipedia
Where do warehouse beetles usually live?
They are found in dry stored food areas like warehouses, granaries, food stores and homes, and have also been found in bee nests outdoors in Russia.
Source: Wikipedia
What foods do they infest?
They attack a wide range of dry goods including grains, flours, noodles, nuts, spices, animal meals, cocoa and sugar products.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Dermestidae)
Varied Carpet BeetleAnthrenus verbasciCan damage your home
Larder BeetleDermestes lardariusCan damage your home
Buffalo carpet beetleAnthrenus scrophulariaeCan damage your home
Black Carpet BeetleAttagenus unicolorCan damage your home
Furniture Carpet BeetleAnthrenus flavipesCan damage your home
Gold Spot-row-band-dot Carpet BeetleAttagenus pustulatusSources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trogoderma_variabile
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.