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I found this guy climbing around my baby aloes today. I have no interest in killing it. I just want to identify it. In the very bottom of the photo is a brownish/reddish blob with a crater of bumps in the middle, actually a baby aloe plant. That aloe is roughly the size of a Canadian & US - Dime. (I believe that is similar size of a UK - penny.) You can see this beetle is very small. I am sure it is looking for some other insects to eat.
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Not any better of a picture but a different angle. enter image description here

GardenGems
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2 Answers2

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Carpet beetles Carpet beetles side view with head tucked in when its head is poking out

This is not a plant pest, although on rare occasions they would lay eggs in dead plant matter.

Management of carpet beetles

seedelicious
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It's not possible to see all the details clearly, but it appears to be one of the shield bugs, sometimes called stink bugs (although most of them don't stink at all, the one that does is Halyomorpha halys, the brown marmorated stink bug). Hard to say which one it is because coloration and pattern changes at different times, as well as not being able to see its back legs and clearly see the pattern on the back and overall shape. Image of brown marmorated stink bug here https://www.entsoc.org/plague-brown-marmorated-stink-bug. though the colouring is close, this is not a carpet beetle - look at the head in comparison with the obvious thorax and head in your own photo.

Bamboo
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  • Good catch on the carpet beetle, I missed the head shape being wrong. I definitely not a shield beetle. The shape of this beetles body is round, like a lady beetle, but it does not have the pronutum of a lady beetle or at least a prominent one. I will see if any of the other pictures gives a better look at body shape. But, none of them is as easy to spot against the background. – GardenGems Jan 23 '20 at 21:15
  • The pattern on its back looks raised up or in relief in your image - is it, or is that just poor quality photo? I really can't see much detail at all.... – Bamboo Jan 23 '20 at 21:56
  • Poor quality. My camera does not do go macro photos, so it was taken at a distance. – GardenGems Jan 23 '20 at 21:58