What's Eating Your Collection?

Adult beetle.

Size: 2-4mm

Shape: rounded

Colour: very dark with patches of small white hairs.

Antennae: small, tight club.

Distinguishing features: no scales. Adult is much darker than the Varied Carpet Beetle.

Larvae are a pest of wool, fur, feathers and other animal protein.
Damage is small neat holes often with cast larval skins with gritty frass.

This is a serious domestic pest in Australia but is rare in the rest of the world. 

An infestation was discovered in an office in the V&A museum in 2010. They have also been found in Kensington Palace and a flat in Bradford in 2013.