Dermestes undulatus is a very common (and beautiful) species, but it still harbors surprises. In natural populations, a few individuals with a deviant appearance have been found. In 2020 Dermestidae expert Jiří Háva made a Facebook post showcasing a rare colour variability of this species.
In the comments underneath this post, Gábor Seres asked if a beetle photographed by J. Romsauer was the same colour variant - which got comfirmed by Háva. It seems the elytra are unusually densely covered with grey hairs, eliminating the typical mottled pattern of Dermestes undulatus.
I don't think this colour variation has an official name yet. For the time being, I will use "silver" to address this colour variation. My first assumption is that this variant is caused by a recessive gene that "turns off" the mottled pattern when it is able to express in homozygotic individuals. I haven't seen any beetles with a similar appearance in my cultivated Dermestes undulatus colony, but who knows if the gene is invisibly present in the population. I am going to conduct some breeding experiments to find out.
This post is on-going and will be updated with new information when available.
References:
- Hava (2020). Facebook. Retrieved on: december 2025. Link.
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