PEST NAME : RUST – RED FLOUR BEETLE (Tribolium castaneum)

SIZE, SHAPE AND COLOUR : 2.5 to 4.5mm.  Shiny mahogany brown. Sort clubbed antennae, slight ridges at side of wing cases.

BIOLOGY :  450 eggs laid over 100 days in food material. Larvae take 4 to 5 weeks to develop. Pupation is within the foodstuffs. Adult emerges 5 to 10 days later. The beetle can live 18 months. Normal life cycle is completed in 7 weeks.

PREFERRED FOODS :  Flour, chocolate products, broken grain products, the germ is favoured in grain, dried fruits, spices, nuts, groundnuts and cereals.

HABITAT : Flour mills, warehousing, feed mills, becoming more common.