DEATHWATCH BEETLE

(Xestobium refuvillosum), an anobiid, or borer insect, of the family Anobiidae (order Coleoptera). These beetles tend to be small (1 to 9 millimetres, or less than 1/2 inch) and cylindrical. When disturbed they usually pull in their legs and play dead. The deathwatch beetle makes a ticking or clicking sound by bumping its head or jaws against the sides of the tunnels as it bores in old furniture and wood. According to superstition, the sound, actually a mating call, has been believed to forecast an approaching death.