Hi Deep Look and KQED Science Fans,

It’s June gloom: cool and foggy along much of the coast in California. When you reach for that sweater to warm up, you just might discover that clothes moths have wreaked holey havoc in your closet! It’s actually their larvae, not the adult moths, that eat through your favorite garments. What are they after? Well, they have an appetite for keratin, a protein in your sheep’s wool and cashmere sweaters. They’re also after the vitamin B in the sweat, oil and skin flakes you shed onto your clothes everyday. How did the moths get into your home and what can you do about it? Find out in this week’s newsletter and video.

Clothes Moths Got Your Sweater? There’s a Wasp for That

Once clothes moth larvae start eating your cherished garments, they’re tough to get rid of. Tiny parasitoid wasps are here to help – they lay their eggs inside the moth’s eggs so you can say bye-bye to those smelly mothballs.

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Clothes Moths Horrors

👚Clothes moths didn’t fly into your closet. Their eggs or larvae hitchhiked into your home on your thrifted clothing or vintage rugs.

🤐 Adult clothes moths are about the size of a pinkie nail. They’re not hungry for your sweaters – in fact, adult clothes moths have no working mouthparts.

🥚🥚All female adult moths want to do is lay their eggs in the same nutritious clothes they grew up in and in other garments nearby.

💑Clothes moths multiply fast because they mate with their own siblings.

💀Female Trichogramma wasps are skilled at finding clothes moth eggs. Once they spot one, they’ll pierce it and lay their own eggs inside. After a few days, a wasp emerges ready to take down more moths.

Name That Critter!

Shaped like a fish, with shimmering scales, you might find it crawling in your sink at night. Three long filaments poke out from its backside; it has no wings and makes mini-me babies. This insect has traits some of the earliest insects had around 400 million years ago. What is it? Find the answer at the bottom of the newsletter.

Filming Clothes Moths

(L-R) Deep Look lead producer and cinematographer Josh Cassidy films clothes moths held inside a clear box to keep them from getting out and infesting our offices at KQED. The clear box sits on top of a piece of red wool. Rosa Tuirán, the producer of this episode looks on. Find out more about how we filmed this episode on Patreon.

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KQED’s Deep Look and Science teams!

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