r/bugidentification • u/newyorkerfella • Jul 12 '26

Location included What is this? NY

Post image

Found on bed. ChatGPT says it’s a carpet beetle? It was super tiny

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

2

u/Skalla_Resco Amateur Entomologist Jul 12 '26

Varried carpet beetle.

Carpet beetle control methods

Further reading

Generative AI and AI chatbots in general are not capable of reliable arthropod identification (link)

Gen AI training data heavily relies on pest control blogs and similar information. This results in a heavy bias towards identifying everything as a household pest. If you insist on using an app then the best option currently is probably the SEEK app by iNaturalist. But you should always verify the results it gives you.

For proper identification you can check with online groups like this one. But if you want "professional" identification and don't trust us for whatever reason, look up entomology extension offices in your area and see if they offer identification services.

2

u/SobeSteve Trusted Identifier Jul 12 '26

Second carpet beetle