Case Bearing Carpet Moth Life Cycle

Alamy rather confusingly most of these moth species will sometimes switch from carpets to clothes and chew any natural fabrics like cotton wool and silk.

Case bearing carpet moth life cycle. The most common clothes moths are the webbing clothes moth easily identified with a golden color and around half an inch in length and the case bearing moth which can be identified about inch long and their forewings are mottled brown with one large and a few smaller indistinct black spots. The larva makes a portable case for itself out of wool and other fibres. The case bearing clothes moth builds itself a portable case out of debris such as fibres and hairs in which they can hide. The adults do not live long and the mated adult female lays hundreds of eggs in her short life time.

The life cycle of a carpet moth clothes moth. Adult case bearing carpet moth. Tinea pellionella the case bearing clothes moth is a species of tineoid moth in the family tineidae the fungus moths it is the type species of the genus tinea which in turn is the type genus of the subfamily family as well as the superfamily tineoidea. Case bearing carpet moths tinea pellionella are a common textile pest their larvae feed on keratin in natural fibres and so are a household pest due to the damage they can cause to woollen carpets and silk rugs as well as expensive clothing the larvae can also feed on cobwebs birds nests and other natural materials.

In outside buildings it has one generation however in heated buildings it can have two or more generations. The carpet moth has a very similar life cycle to a clothes moth. Its scientific name is derived from tinea a generic term for micromoths and the latin term for a furrier pellionellus.