Anthrenus

Anthrenus
Young imago of Anthrenus verbasci
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Family:	Dermestidae
Subfamily:	Megatominae
Tribe:	Anthrenini
Genus:	Anthrenus Schaeffer, 1766
Subgenera
Anthrenodes Anthrenops Anthrenus Schaeffer, 1766 Florilinus Mulsant & Rey, 1868 Helocerus Mulsant & Rey, 1868 (disputed) Nathrenus Casey, 1900 Ranthenus Solskinus

Old varied carpet beetle (A. verbasci) with most scales rubbed off

Anthrenus larvae feeding on Sceliphron destillatorius specimen

Anthrenus is a genus of beetles in the family Dermestidae, the skin beetles. One of several genera of carpet beetles, Anthrenus was historically placed in a subfamily Anthreninae, though presently included in the Megatominae. The genus Neoanthrenus is closely related.

Anthrenus carpet beetles are small beetles a few millimetres long with a rather rounded shape. Their antennae bear small clubs at the end, which are plumper in males than in females. Many have a delicate and rather pretty pattern, with a dark body covered in colorful scales of various brown, tan, red, whitish and grey hues. These scales rub off easily, and old individuals are often partially devoid of them, showing the shining black elytra. A considerable number of subspecies and varieties have been named, but it is questionable whether these are all valid or simply refer to such age-related differences. The massive number of species has been divided into several subgenera, but these are not too firmly established. The small subgenus Helocerus for example is sometimes entirely included in Florilinus. Also, new species are being described every now and then.

These beetles range essentially all over the world; they have even colonized some remote oceanic islands. Most species are harmless pollen-eaters, with the long-haired larvae feeding on a wide range on dead animal or plant matter. This makes them important decomposers, which clean up decaying organisms. Some, however, most notoriously the museum beetle (A. museorum), are significant pests, infesting stored goods and especially biological specimens in museum collections. These species have caused considerable damage to biology by destroying valuable type specimens.

Selected species

Subgenus Anthrenodes Anthrenus ceylonicus Anthrenus distinctus Anthrenus guineaensis Anthrenus israelicus Anthrenus jordanicus Anthrenus klapperichi Anthrenus malkini Anthrenus occultus Anthrenus semenovi Anthrenus semenovi var. rupestris Anthrenus umbellatarum

Subgenus Anthrenops Anthrenus bellulus Anthrenus bellulus ornatus Anthrenus cervenkai Anthrenus eichleri Anthrenus geisthardti Anthrenus hissaricus Anthrenus oculatus Anthrenus splendidus Anthrenus zebra

Anthrenus pimpinellae, probably male

Subgenus Anthrenus

Anthrenus angustefasciatus Anthrenus armstrongi Anthrenus bartolozzii Anthrenus botswaniensis Anthrenus chiton Beal, 1998 Anthrenus delicatus Kiesenwetter, 1851 Anthrenus dorsatus Anthrenus ethiopicus Anthrenus festivus Erichson, 1846 Anthrenus flavidulus Anthrenus flavipes J.L.LeConte, 1854 – furniture carpet beetle Anthrenus flavipes albopunctatus Anthrenus goliath Mulsant & Rey, 1868 Anthrenus indicus Anthrenus kantneri Anthrenus katerinae Anthrenus kenyaensis Anthrenus latefasciatus Anthrenus lepidus LeConte, 1854 Anthrenus merkli Anthrenus mesopotamicus Anthrenus miniopictus Anthrenus munroi Hinton, 1943 Anthrenus namibicus Anthrenus nipponensis

Anthrenus oceanicus Fauvel, 1903 Anthrenus parvus Casey, 1900 Anthrenus pfefferi Anthrenus picturatus Anthrenus picturatus arabicus Anthrenus picturatus hintoni Anthrenus picturatus makolskii Anthrenus picturatus melanoleucus Anthrenus pimpinellae Fabricius, 1775 Anthrenus pimpinellae isabellinus Kuester, 1848 Anthrenus pimpinellae mroczkowskii Kalík, 1954 Anthrenus rotundulus Anthrenus scrophulariae (Linnaeus, 1758) – common carpet beetle Anthrenus scrophulariae var. albidus Anthrenus scrophulariae var. gravidus Anthrenus scrophulariae var. suecicus Palm, 1940 Anthrenus senegalensis Anthrenus simonis Anthrenus sophonisba Beal, 1998 Anthrenus tarnawskii Anthrenus thoracicus Melsheimer, 1846 Anthrenus x-signum

common carpet beetle (A. scrophulariae), probably male

Subgenus Florilinus Anthrenus castaneae Melsheimer, 1846 Anthrenus caucasicus Anthrenus coreanus Anthrenus flavidus Anthrenus hartmanni Anthrenus mugodsharicus Anthrenus museorum (Linnaeus, 1761) – museum beetle Anthrenus oberthueri Reitter, 1881 Anthrenus olgae Kalík, 1946 Anthrenus pallidus Anthrenus solskianus Anthrenus sordidulus Anthrenus sveci Anthrenus tanakai Anthrenus zhantievi

Subgenus Helocerus Anthrenus fuscus A.G.Olivier, 1789 Anthrenus minutus Erichson, 1846 Anthrenus polonicus Mroczkowski, 1951

museum beetle (A. museorum), male

Subgenus Nathrenus

Anthrenus albomaculatus Anthrenus albostictus Anthrenus basilewskyi Anthrenus biskrensis Reitter, 1887 Anthrenus boyesi Anthrenus bulirschi Anthrenus constantini Anthrenus cordis Anthrenus exilis Anthrenus havai Anthrenus kucerai Anthrenus margarethae Anthrenus mindanaoensis Anthrenus nadeini

Anthrenus natalensis Anthrenus obscurus Anthrenus preissi Anthrenus pubifer Anthrenus schawalleri Anthrenus signatus Erichson, 1846 Anthrenus signatus var. incanus Anthrenus snizeki Anthrenus stelma Anthrenus transcaspicus Anthrenus tryznai Anthrenus undatus Anthrenus zahradniki

Subgenus Ranthenus Anthrenus alatauensis Anthrenus kryzhanovskii Anthrenus zeravshanicus

Subgenus Solskinus Anthrenus assimilis Anthrenus bucharicus Anthrenus dsungaricus Anthrenus jacobsoni Anthrenus tadzhicus Anthrenus talassicus

Subgenus undetermined

• Anthrenus amoenulus - Anthrenodes or Florilinus?
• Anthrenus biscrensis - Florilinus?
• Anthrenus blanci Beal, 1998
• Anthrenus coloratus Reitter, 1881 - Anthrenops or Florilinus?
• Anthrenus fucosus Beal, 1998
• Anthrenus funebris - Florilinus?
• Anthrenus minor - Anthrenodes or Florilinus?
  • Anthrenus minor ab. unicolor
• Anthrenus molitor Aubé, 1850 - Florilinus or Nathrenus?
• Anthrenus occidens Casey, 1900
• Anthrenus omoi Beal, 1998
• Anthrenus sarnicus – Guernsey carpet beetle - Anthrenodes or Florilinus?
• Anthrenus signatus - Florilinus or Nathrenus?
• Anthrenus tuvensis - Florilinus?
• Anthrenus umbra Beal, 1998
• Anthrenus ussuricus - Florilinus?
• Anthrenus verbasci – varied carpet beetle - Florilinus or Nathrenus?
  • Anthrenus verbasci var. nebulosus
• Anthrenus versicolor Reitter, 1887 - Florilinus or Nathrenus?

External links

• Anthrenus flavipes, furniture carpet beetle
• Anthrenus scrophulariae, common carpet beetle