Word: dermestid
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...eats aphids and other small insects?to the gardener's delight. Before the development of dyes made from coal-tar derivatives, a scale insect provided the world with red dye; other species of scale insects are still used in the manufacture of shellac. The flesh-eating larvae of the dermestid beetle are used by museums to strip clean the bones of animals so that their skeletons can be mounted for display. Ancient Egyptians venerated the scarab beetle as a symbol of immortality; among its other activities, the insect breaks up and carries away animal and human droppings that might otherwise...
...restive animal with lumps of sugar. But for his new job he needed more equanimity than ever. Bat caves are chambers of horror. Their floors are deep in stinking guano and littered with the skulls and bones of long-dead bats. Over this repulsive carpet crawl fierce, flesh-eating dermestid beetles and their larvae-so numerous that the floor seems alive. When a sick or senile bat falls from the ceiling, the beetles crowd to devour it. The walls are thick with mites, ticks and other bat parasites. The air of the cave is foul with the unpleasant ammoniacal odor...
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