If you think you live alone, think again. Your humble abode is also home to potentially hundreds of tiny arthropods. These unseen roommates consist of ants, beetles, book lice, and more.
A team of scientists led by Matt Bertone of North Carolina State University surveyed visited 50 houses in and around Raleigh, North Carolina. From those, they were able to collect over 10,000 specimens—more than 500 morphospecies (or species that can be differentiated by their structure alone)—from large spiders to tiny creatures only a few millimeters long. Overall, the critters represented over 300 families over arthropods.
Even more surprising, the scientists classified these insects and discovered that each home contained somewhere between 32 and 211 arthropod species. The study was published Tuesday in the journal Peer J.
Out of more than 550 rooms sampled, only five were completely bug-free.
Here’s Mary Bates, writing for National Geographic:
There are probably even more bugs in our homes, since the researchers only collected arthropods from visible surfaces, excluding areas such as behind walls, under heavy furniture, and in drawers and cabinets, Bertone says.
But he emphasizes that we shouldn’t be afraid of the bugs in our midst—the vast majority are not harmful. Typical household pests, such as German cockroaches, termites, and fleas, were only present in a few homes, the survey found. And those ubiquitous spiders found in every home are very benign—not to mention they eat pests.
The study, which is the first comprehensive survey of in-home arthropods, is just one of many other investigations into the complex built ecosystem; scientists are exploring the microbial inhabitants of our houses and our hospitals , as well.