Coleoptera

Liverpool, England - June 2009

Of the 50 species that reside in the British Isles, many of the Dermestidae are of considerable economic importance. Almost all the family are scavengers, feeding off dead and decaying material, and when their preferred food consists of cotton, fur or wool they can cause a great deal of damage to clothes, carpets and curtains. Other species that prefer to eat starchy materials are serious pests of stored grain.