Larder beetles

A fairly large (7-10mm) oval beetle, almost black but with a distinct pale band across the front of the wing-cases. The larvae are white after first hatching, but turn brown and are covered with tufts of bristly hair. 

>They grow to 10-12mm long and occasionally tunnel into soft wood to pupate. The life cycle takes about three months.
Both beetle and larvae are scavengers, feeding on scraps of food - especially ham, bacon or cheese, or on dead mice or birds. 
They often enter houses from old birds’ nests. One of a family called the Dermestid beetles, meaning “skin eaters”. Related species include the dark-brown Leather Beetle and the very similar Dermestes haemorrhoidalis, which perhaps not surprisingly has no English name. Read more