Small, Brown, Hardshell Bugs!
Have you ever found small, brown, slow-moving bugs crawling around your house that appear to have a hard-shell ? If you look closely the hard cover appears to be split down the back. These are beetles, probably one of several "stored product" beetles that infest dry foods and natural fabrics. If the beetles appear black, or mottled with red/gray/black, instead of brown they are probably one of the dermestid (Dermestidae) carpet beetles but the brown ones are likely one of the anobiid (Anobiidae) beetles, for example the cigarette or drugstore beetles . If the brown/black beetle has a tan stripe across the back it is probably the larder beetle , another one of the dermestid beetles. These beetles belong to a very large and diverse group of specialist scavengers that feed on dead plant and animal products. They evolved as nature's master "recyclers" that help breakdown and decompose dead plant and animal tissue. If you think about it from the b...