Help to identify beetles.

[triskellion]

Hi. Hope someone can help here. We keep finding these beetles in our house. All seem to be dead although when i tried to take these pictures it seemed that one of them started moving its legs a bit so maybe hibernating or something? We have never seen them before but for about the last month we have seen several turn up just sitting on the carpet generally in the same room but not always. The house is very old and has lots of wooden beams and looking at descriptions and pictures online i think they look just like the wood beetles but are not as small as the descriptions. These are about 5mm long and say 3mm wide. I have also recently found something the cats must have brought in under the bed in the room where we mostly find them. Dont know if that could be related? I have attached a couple of photos (hopefully) which may help to identify them. As said the house is very old with lots of beams however these are all very filled with woodworm holes and obviously have been for a long time (we are talking listed building here) i cannot tell if there are any new ones or not, but some of the holes look to be the right size for these beetles. Any other ideas?

Any help appreciated.

[DurhamBugs]

It's not easy to say from the photos, but there's a possibility that they may be carpet beetles. Try searching on 'varied carpet beetle' (Anthrenus verbasci).
The larvae are partial to eating carpets, hence the name!

[squishy]

Looks like the Death-Watch beetle. Xestobium rufovillosum.

Apparently they can be quite destructive to old timber, especially oak.

These could easily be the culprit of your 'woodworm holes'.

[triskellion]

Many thanks for the replies. I think deth watch beetle is about the only one I didn't look up. Having had a look the pic of one on wikipidia looks exa tly like what we have been seeing so I think you have hit the nail on the head. I guess now we just need to find out where they are coming from and get rid. Thanks again you have been most helpfull.