As a domestic pest
The larvae of A. verbasci are a common household pest. Adult beetles usually lay their eggs in air ducts, in closets, under furniture, or under baseboards.[10] Once hatched and until they pupate into adults, the larvae hide in dark, undisturbed areas and feed on organic material. The larvae are thus responsible for the damage of various items, such as furniture, clothing, blankets, furs, and carpets. They are commonly found in musical instruments which have been stored for lengthy periods of time, feeding on pads and felts most commonly found in woodwind instruments.
As a museum pest
Collections of specimens, especially of insects, are also vulnerable to attack, making A. verbasci a common pest in museums. In a 1987 survey of British national history museums, at least five noted that A. verbasci was categorised as a major pest for biological collections. Larvae are often found in the nests of sparrows and wagtails, and so larvae and adults may enter museums at upper levels through windows and roof spaces.
Infestations can be prevented by removing the larvae and adults through regular vacuum cleaning, dry cleaning or airing clothing outside, placing naphthalene balls in closets, and removing abandoned bird and insect nests attached to the building. Signs of an infestation include the presence of damaged articles, moulted larval skins in dark areas, and an abundance of adult beetles near windows. Susceptible people may also find that hairs shed from the larvae cause irritated itchy welts that may be confused with bedbug bites. Deterring or killing A. verbasci can be accomplished using insecticides, oxygen deprivation, freezing, and pheromone and scent traps.
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The varied carpet beetle is a 3 mm-long beetle belonging to the family Dermestidae. They are a common species, often considered a pest of domestic houses and, particularly, natural history museums, where the larvae may damage natural fibers and can damage carpets, furniture, clothing, and insect collections. A. verbasci was also the first insect to be shown to have an annual behavioral rhythm and to date remains a classic example of circannual cycles in animals.
Adult A. verbasci range in length from 1.7 to 3.5 mm (0.07 to 0.14 in). The body is rounded, almost spherical. The elytra and pronotum are covered in fine scales of different colours, creating an irregular pattern of white, brownish and yellowish patches on these features. The white scales are focussed along the lateral margins of the pronotum and on the elytra, where they form three bright, wavy transverse bands. In addition to these morphological features, their antennae are 11-segmented, with a club of 3 segments.
The larval form of A. verbasci, commonly known as 'woolly bears' (a name shared with the larvae of Arctia caja and many other moths of the subfamily Arctiinae), measures up to 4–5 millimetres (0.16–0.20 in) in length. The larvae are elongated and densely covered in large setae (hairs). These hairs are organised into alternating, transverse groups of light and dark-brown patches: the larva appears covered in brown stripes. The body is usually wider at the back than at the front where it also bears 3 pairs of hair tufts along its rear abdomen that can be used for self-defense.
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The word ant and the chiefly dialectal form emmet come from ante, emete of Middle English, which come from ǣmette of Old English; these are all related to Low Saxon e(e)mt, empe and varieties (Old Saxon emeta) and to German Ameise (Old High German āmeiza). All of these words come from West Germanic *ǣmaitjōn, and the original meaning of the word was "the biter" (from Proto-Germanic *ai-, "off, away" + *mait- "cut"). The family name Formicidae is derived from the Latin formīca ("ant") from which the words in other Romance languages, such as the Portuguese formiga, Italian formica, Spanish hormiga, Romanian furnică, and French fourmi are derived. It has been hypothesised that a Proto-Indo-European word *morwi- was used, cf. Sanskrit vamrah, Greek μύρμηξ mýrmēx, Old Church Slavonic mraviji, Old Irish moirb, Old Norse maurr, Dutch mier, Swedish myra, Danish myre, Middle Dutch miere, Crimean Gothic miera.
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