Red-legged ham beetle
The red-legged ham beetle is a small, shiny beetle that gleams metallic green or blue. Its legs and feelers are bright red, like little red boots. It loves dried and smoked food, like ham, cheese and dried fish.
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Fun facts
It has been found inside ancient Egyptian mummies.
Long ago, it even had the name Necrobia mumiarum, after those mummies.
Fridges have helped a lot, because meat kept cold is safe from it.
Scientists who solve mysteries using insects sometimes look for this beetle.
It is also a big pest of dried and salted fish, like herring.
Most asked questions about Red-legged ham beetle
?What does the red-legged ham beetle eat?
It eats dried and smoked meat, cheese, dried fish and dried fruit, and the grown-ups also hunt fly larvae.
?Is the red-legged ham beetle harmful?
Not to people. It is a pest because it spoils stored food.
?How big is the red-legged ham beetle?
It is only 3.5 to 7 millimetres long, smaller than a pea.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Necrobia rufipes
- Named by
- De Geer, 1775
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Cleridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Cleridae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Necrobia rufipes (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Michael C. Thomas, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Bugwood.org. CC BY 3.0 us, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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