''Mezium affine'' is a species of beetle in the family Ptinidae. Its common names include shiny spider beetle, northern spider beetle, and hood spider beetle.''Mezium affine'' (Boieldieu, 1856).
Insectes du Patrimoine Culturel. It occurs throughout the Northern Hemisphere, and it is an introduced species in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

.Shiny spider beetle, ''Mezium affine''.
Pests and Diseases Image Library (PaDIL) Australia. This beetle is long with a very convex oval body. The abdomen is reddish brown to black, and the legs, antennae, and other parts are cream-colored. The head, thorax, and legs have a coating of scaly yellowish or gray hairs. The rounded body shape earned it the common name spider beetle. The larva is up to long and yellowish white in color with a brownish head. It is coated in yellowish hairs. The larvae infest stored food and other products. They are known to live on

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

, spices,

fish meal Fish meal is a commercial product made from whole wild-caught fish, bycatch and fish by-products to feed farm animals, e.g., pigs, poultry, and farmed fish.R. D. Miles and F. A. Chapman.FA122: The Benefits of Fish Meal in Aquaculture DietsFisheri ...

, dog biscuits, dried fruit, dried meat, dried mushrooms, seeds, wool, hair, feathers, skins,

book bindings Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book of codex format from an ordered stack of ''signatures'', sheets of paper folded together into sections that are bound, along one edge, with a thick needle and strong thread. Cheaper, b ...

, dead insects,

feces Feces ( or faeces), known colloquially and in slang as poo and poop, are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the large intestine. Feces contain a relati ...

, and sugar. It can be found in libraries and museums, where it may damage specimens and collections.

References

Ptinidae Taxa named by Anatole Auguste Boieldieu Beetles described in 1856 {{Bostrichoidea-stub