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What Is the Life Cycle of a Dermestid Beetle?

Dermestid beetles are also known as flesh-eating beetles because they eat carrion (dead animals). Museums and taxidermists use dermestid beetles to eat the flesh off skeletons. The beetles quickly and thoroughly clean meat off skeletons without causing any damage to the bones. In nature, the dermestid beetles' appetite for carrion serves a valuable service to the world by removing rotting smelly meat from the environment. Dermestid beetles are sometimes considered pests in agricultural, commercial and household settings when they eat food supplies and products that contain animal ingredients.

Eggs
- After mating, an adult female Dermestid Beetle lays fertile eggs. An adult female Dermestid Beetle lays eggs every five days throughout her life. During each egg-laying session, she lays between one and 70 eggs. She lays her eggs in or near a food source, usually carrion, so that when they hatch, the larvae will be able to eat. The eggs are very small. In fact, they are too small for the human eye to see.
Larva
- Three days after the eggs are laid, they hatch and and larvae emerge. The larva emerge extremely hungry and gorge themselves with food to keep up with their rapid growth rate. As the larva grow, they molt (shed their skins) to allow for growth. The larva molt, on average, a total of six to eight times. When the larva are about 25 days old, they find a dark place to burrow into in preparation for the pupa stage.
Pupa
- During pupation, the larva molts one last time. The pupa stage lasts five days. During this time, the dermestid is almost immobile, being trapped by its skin. The only movement is caused by the beetle attempting to emerge from the last layer of larva skin.
Adult
- The larva emerges from pupation as an adult beetle. The newly emerged beetle is a pale yellow in color. Over the first two to three days after pupation, the beetle's coloring gradually changes until it becomes black.
Lifespan
- The lifespan of an adult dermestid beetle is approximately three months. Combined with the larva stage, the total lifespan of a dermestid beetle is approximately four months.

Insects & Science