Paper Bugs?

[Mephisto]

 

The moth hypothesis is a possibility, as are carpet beetle larvae.

 

Are you talking about crabs?

[underthebigw]

 

The moth hypothesis is a possibility, as are carpet beetle larvae.

 

Are you talking about crabs?

 

Now that's creepy.

 

The short answere-No.

 

The two you quoted are actually larvae that look like worms. The booklice, more scientifically known as psocids, are about 1-2mm long and light brown. There's much debate on what they eat, but are known to invest paper when humidity levels are high. They occur naturally in the outdoors and come indoors when moisture is too high. Some have suggested they actually eat paper, some think they eat paper sizing (the starch used to make paper glossy), but most feel that they live on microscopic molds and fungi that grow on paper in high humidity. The reality is, they probably infest most big libraries to some degree and are common in rare book collections. It was a miserable experience that I was fortunately able to contain by selling most of my belongings when I left grad school in the mid-90's.

[Freiherr]

I have seen the husks, but never any critters. I worked in the school library when I was a kid and I would see them on the bottom of the shelves when we were rearranging things. The librarian said they were from “bookworms”, but I never found any visible damage to the books (like holes).

[BachelorOfComix]

I'm gonna see if I can find one & then I'm gonna scan the little bugger.

Caught one! So is it a moth larvae or carpet beetle larvae or............

 

[supapimp]

i think you need to fumigate your casa BOC.

[BachelorOfComix]

i think you need to fumigate your casa BOC.

Wanna come over & we'll hotbox each room one-by-one?

 

[OldSchoolTerry]

I'm gonna see if I can find one & then I'm gonna scan the little bugger.

Caught one! So is it a moth larvae or carpet beetle larvae or............

 

 

Aw, wat a cute widdle baby!!! What's his name?.....

[supapimp]

wouldn't that give the little buggers the munchies though?

[BachelorOfComix]

wouldn't that give the little buggers the munchies though?

Worse yet, when you & I get the munchies we'll start looking for the buggers!

[BachelorOfComix]

Aw, wat a cute widdle baby!!! What's his name?.....

 

"little hairy bas."?

 

 

[Tomega]

I'm gonna see if I can find one & then I'm gonna scan the little bugger.

Caught one! So is it a moth larvae or carpet beetle larvae or............

 

 

It is not moth larvae, moth larvae do not move around from their food source and the insect you pictured does move around.

 

I get the same thing sometimes in my house. At first I thought I've narrowed it down to one of the types of lady bugs :

 

 

I thought this because twice a year I get lady bugs in my house and I cannot find where they are coming from. I found out lady bugs will come in homes when it is cold but generally do not reproduce in homes. However, I thought it was still a possibility and the larvae looks very similar ( although there are many types of lady bug larvae.) That is until I looked at carpet beetle larvae and I am very confident that is what it is.

 

 

There are black, varied, common, and furniture carpet beetles. Pull up the edge of the carpet in the room where you found the larvae - you may find more.

 

Here is a close up -

 

 

As you can see, this is very similar to what you scanned.

Yes, I have a lot of time on my hands - I am on vacation.

 

 

 

 

[supapimp]

most excellent post tomega! i have seen those carpet beetles at my parents house before in my mylar'd comic magazines.

[BachelorOfComix]

Nice job Tom! Come to think of it, I have seen them in this stage (the one on the left):

 

 

They can fly around in that advanced stage. Do you know if they are harmful to comics, do they eat paper?

[underthebigw]

See my post above-carpet beetle larvae eat anything, including paper. The adults, the pic on the left, essentially just breed. They will try to get outdoors, but can live and breed just fine indoor if left no choice. Two recommendations:

 

First, keep the sample and bring it to your local cooperative extension office. Most have a entomologist on staff or accessible, and all of them ID insect samples.

 

Second, clean, clean, and clean every freaking box you have. One of the reasons I'm partial to acid-free, non-corrugated boxes is that corrugated cardboard is a breading-ground for most insect. They love it--dark, often damp, with tunnels and shelters within. Get rid of the boxes and go through your books, isolating the ones with any signs of damage.

[Tomega]

Nice job Tom! Come to think of it, I have seen them in this stage (the one on the left):

 

They can fly around in that advanced stage. Do you know if they are harmful to comics, do they eat paper?

 

Thanks. Carpet beetles digest keratin based materials. That pretty much means most natural fibers - cotton, hair, wool and food products that are related to seeds/legumes ( I guess the protective shell of the seed is keratin based.) The rather distasteful fact is that we provide them with a steady food supply of hair, dandruff and lint . With that in mind, they do not appear to eat paper. However, they have been known to eat synthetics that have exposed to naturally occurring dyes, body oils, spills of food stuffs etc. I would think that if they ate paper, people would find holes in boxes of cereal rather then just the bugs inside the box. I would think comics that may have had exposed to food stuff ( as in a moisture stain ), restored comics ( glues, rice paper etc), and old comics ( platinum age books with certain bindings and glues) would be susceptible to these insects- otherwise regular books should be okay.

 

 

http://pmo.umext.maine.edu/factsht/carpetbl.htm

[Mephisto]

Tomega are your lady bugs a dark orange color?

My room used to get boat loads of these Japanese orange Lady Bugs. They still are around the house a lot in the winters. Once or twice I would find a dead inside a comic box on top of the issues, but never hoards of them. And I never noticed any type of chewing. They usually just hang out in the window sill and [!@#%^&^] me off by flying into the light shade and cieling making lots of noise. I think the farmers in the area may have introduced them around here to go after other pests, but I'm not sure. Before 1995 the only Lady Bugs I ever saw around here were red now the nasty dark brown ones are the only ones I ever see.

[underthebigw]

On the carpet beetles-while paper alone is not their favorite foodstuff, they will eat it, especially if that is where the larvae hatch.

 

On the lady bugs, the ones you find in houses are Asian ladybugs. They all have 19 dots on them and, unlike North American ones which stay outdoors in winter, they swarm on light-colored houses in the late fall, trying to get in for the winter. This is a remnant of their behavior in Asia, where they are known to swarm on light-colored cliffs and winter in crevices. Generally, there are nothing more than a nuisance. However, they are known to trail a substance that stains and can emmit a awful odor. To make matters worse, only a small percentage make it out of the house in the spring. The rest die, and there bodies are known to become a food source for the real villains, silverfish, carpet beetles, and book-lice. Fun stuff.

[Mephisto]

I always thought that substance they leave behind was just them wetting themselves right before I crush them. They were so bad about 8 years ago that I had to constantly vaccum out my window's every weekened. Sometimes I would throw a bunch in a platic container and then shoot it up with my BB gun.

[Tomega]

Tomega are your lady bugs a dark orange color?

My room used to get boat loads of these Japanese orange Lady Bugs. They still are around the house a lot in the winters. Once or twice I would find a dead inside a comic box on top of the issues, but never hoards of them. And I never noticed any type of chewing. They usually just hang out in the window sill and [!@#%^&^] me off by flying into the light shade and cieling making lots of noise. I think the farmers in the area may have introduced them around here to go after other pests, but I'm not sure. Before 1995 the only Lady Bugs I ever saw around here were red now the nasty dark brown ones are the only ones I ever see.

 

No, most of the ladybugs I get are the typical reddish but it varies. I have seen black ones, ones without dots, whitish ones and bright red ones. It is funny how you described them when they are in your room - it is exactly what happens to me. I do not see them until I hear them hitting the ceiling and lights.

[Mephisto]

That was some good info silver and bronze gave about the lady bugs swarming on light color houses because my house is white. There definitely is a lot less of them in the house then when it first started back in the mid to late 90's. I remember reading an article in the local news paper a year or so after they started appearing but don't recall much from it.