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Around my house I've been spotting these very small brown/tan spotted bugs:

bug

It moves quite slow, and doesn't seem to fly, only crawl (though it does look like it has wings). It's very small, not much bigger than a sugar ant for comparison.

What is this bug? This is in the Philadelphia region of Pennsylvania.

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This is almost certainly one of the Dermestidae, known as skin bugs or carpet beetles. I think this is probably a varied carpet beetle (Anthrenus verbasci) They are a common world-wide pest and the larvae are known to eat a range of mostly animal-derived materials containing keratin or chitins, including things like wool, silk, leather, bone, horn and feathers.

The larvae look a lot like a very small hairy caterpillar (photo by André Karwath aka Aka, CC BY-SA 2.5 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5, via Wikimedia Commons):

Anthrenus verbasci larvae

and the adults (photo by Donald Hobern from Copenhagen, Denmark, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons:

Anthrenus verbasci adult

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  • I think its a varied carpet beetle looking at the images.
    – Timmy Jim
    Apr 26, 2022 at 22:13

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