“What type of worm or bug is this?” asks this reader in her query concerning the brown and white, speckled bug in the photograph below. Our reader found it on top of her bed cover, and we will do our best to identify this critter for our reader.

As one can see in the photo above, the critter in question has a brown head and body, with white speckles and stripes adorning its back. Additionally, its six forelegs and pronged rear tells us that this is likely an insect larva, and more specifically that it is a beetle larva. Unfortunately, we do not know exactly what species of beetle this larva belongs to; we have never seen anything exactly like it before. That said, beetle larvae are not seriously dangerous to human or animal health (generally speaking), though they can use the pincers on their rears as a defense mechanism, which will sting, but not cause any serious health impairments.

Although we do not know what this larva is, we do know what it is not. This is definitely not a carpet beetle larva, which we hope is reassuring to our reader, considering the destructive nature of this pest. In fact, this larva does not resemble any pest that we have seen before, and as our reader only reports finding one of them, we assume that this is just a stray larva that wandered into our reader’s home or that was accidentally carried in from the outdoors. Of course, our reader should keep in mind that larvae of a variety of bug species can wander into people’s homes through torn window screens, cracks in walling and flooring, open doors and windows, and can be brought in on groceries from the door (such as Indianmeal moth larvae) and on one’s clothes, so our reader really needs not stress if a lost bug wanders into her home now and then: it happens.

That being said, if our reader does discover more larvae of the same appearance wandering her home, then she may be experiencing an infestation. Things our reader can look out for are larvae in her dried foods, bite marks on wood or other furniture, holes in clothing and upholstery, and dense concentrations of roaming larvae; seeing what they eat and where they are located will tell our reader why her home is being infested by these creatures. General things she can do to control and eliminate the infestation are vacuum the home (especially any discovered nests), launder her textiles at the highest temperature they can muster, and ensure that her home is cleaned consistently. With all of that in mind, as long as our reader does not find any more larvae, then there is no reason to think that her home is infested with this particular larva.

To conclude, we are not sure exactly what species of beetle this larva belongs to, but we hope that the information in this article proves helpful, or at least insightful, to our reader nonetheless. If any of our other readers have any ideas as to what species this larva may be, we welcome any thoughts in the comments section below!

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