“It caused terror in the house.” Waled, 20, weighs these words. This young man from Brussels contacted us via the range button Alert us. An unidentified flying insect entered his home and caused a (small) wave of panic.
The climax having been reached when the insect has “jumped on my mother’s ear. He tried to break in”details Waled. “We took him and threw him out.”
Impossible to identify the beast. However, the young man specifies that several of his neighbors have noticed this type of insect lately in the neighborhood.
We contacted the Agro-Bio Tech faculty in Gembloux, and more specifically the entomology unit which studies insects. Its manager, Frédéric Francis, sheds light on this strange intruder: “These are rove beetles. They are harmless insects for humans and very common in gardens in Belgium“, informs the specialist.
The beast is part of the Coleoptera, of the Staphylinidae family.
Frédéric Francis adds that these are “predators of invertebrates (slugs and insects) or scavengers (consume corpses). Some are detritivores and consume decomposing organic matter.”
It is very common for these insects to enter homes to spend the winter there. The expert concludes: “These are therefore auxiliary insects, very useful because they limit the populations of insect pests of crops and ornamental plants.”