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Common Stored Product Insect species
Stored product insects (SPI) not only damage foodstuff and raw materials but can also contaminate finished products, hence making them unfit for use. Understanding the appearance, habits and life cycles of SPIs can help to identify the most effective SPI control for your property.
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Lesser Grain Beetle
(Rhyzopertha dominica)
This beetle lives and feeds in warehouses and stores, especially feed and health food stores.
Appearance
- The lesser grain borer is black-brown in colour.
- It is about 2.5 - 3 mm long.
- The body has a slender cylindrical form and the head is hidden under the round neck-shield.
- The larvae are whitish with a yellow head.
Lifecycle
- Adult females lay eggs singly or in groups of up to 30.
- The eggs are laid on the outside of the grain and a female can lay from 300 - 500 eggs.
- In hot summer conditions it may take as few as 30 days, but the average is about 58 days.
- Pupation takes place inside the hollow shell of the seed or in the "flour" that accumulates with infested grain.
Habits
- The lesser grain borer is primarily a pest in stored wheat and corn.
- It can infest tobacco, nuts, beans, bird seed, biscuits, cassava, cocoa beans, dried fruit, peanuts, spices, rodenticide baits, and dried meat and fish.
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Drug Store Beetle
(Stegobium Paniceum)
The drugstore beetle (also known as the Biscuit Beetle) gained its name because it was frequently found feeding on drugs in pharmacies many years ago. Now, they are customarily found infesting all types of dry stored food products, spices, seeds, grains and dried plant material.
Appearance
- Approx. 3 - 4 mm long, red-brown, oval beetles.
- The larvae are small and white approximately 0.5 mm long.
- The drugstore beetle is a red-brown oval-shaped beetle.
Lifecycle
- The adult beetles live from 2 to 4 weeks and during this time the females may deposit between 20-100 eggs.
- The hatching larvae are 0.5 mm long and very mobile.
- The larval period usually ranges from four to five months, but under favorable conditions the development from egg to adult may occur in 6 to 8 weeks.
- When the larvae are fully grown, pupation occurs and they remain in this resting stage for 12 to 18 days.
Habits
- It is not a major pest in stored grains but will attack spices, seeds, grains and dried plant material as well as packaging materials such as paper and cardboard.
- They have also been known to feed on leather, wool, hair and books.
- Their presence can be detected from pinhead holes in the infested items.
- Packaging materials such as paper and cardboard are also attacked.
- Since the drugstore beetle can fly well, the source of infestation can sometimes be hard to find.
- The drugstore beetle is not a major pest in stored grains.
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Cigarette Beetle
(Lasioderma serricorne)
The Cigarette beetle is a very common commercial pest.
Appearance
- The Cigarette Beetle is about 2-4mm in length.
- The adult is whitish in color, with the head dark brown to tan, and are densely haired.
- The cigarette beetle closely resembles the drugstore beetle.
- The cigarette beetle has the head bent down nearly at right angles to the body giving it a humped back appearance when viewed from the side.
- The larvae are about 4 mm long and somewhat bent.
Lifecycle
- The adult beetles live from 2 to 4 weeks and during this time the females may deposit between 10-100 eggs.
- The eggs are laid loosely on the infested material.
- The larval period usually ranges from four to five months, but under very favorable conditions the development from egg to adult may occur in 6 to 8 weeks.
- When the larvae are fully grown, pupation occurs and they remain in this resting stage for 12 to 18 days.
Habits
- The Cigarette Beetle feeds off tobacco, dry stored food products, spices, seeds, grains and dried plant material.
- They have also been reported in rice, dried potatoes, paprika, raisins, grain-based mouse bait and dried straw flowers.
- Adult beetles often wander away from infested materials and may be found throughout the area.
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Rusty grain beetle
(Cryptolestes ferrugineus)
Appearance
- Adult is 1.5 – 2.5 mm in length.
- Red-brown in colour with flat body.
Lifecycle
- Female produces up to 200 eggs.
- In ideal temperature conditions, the life cycle is about 23 days.
Habits
- Adults walk with a characteristic swaying movement.
- Adults are winged but rarely fly.
- Feeds on cereals, dates, dried fruits and other materials.
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Saw Toothed Grain Beetle
(Oryzaephilus Surinamensis)
The saw-toothed grain beetle is one of the most common insects in stored grain and cereal products
Appearance
- Adult is brown and is approximately 3 mm.
- Mature larva is yellowish white.
- Adult has a flattened body.
- Wings are present, developed, but they do cannot fly.
Lifecycle
- The female lays eggs singly or in small batches in the food product. She lays about 200 eggs in her lifetime.
- Eggs hatch after about 8 days.
- The life cycle takes about 35 days and the larvae feed in the top few centimetres of the food stuff.
- Adults usually live around 6 to 10 months.
Habits
- The larvae develop in flour, cereal products, and many other dried foods, including grains, cereals, bread, pasta products, dried meat, dried fruit and nuts, sugar, chocolate, candy, tobacco products and drugs.
- A common pest not only in grain bins, but also, mills, processing plants, warehouses, and kitchens.
- In grain bins, it feeds on broken kernels and grain residues.
- The beetles can chew through sealed packaging such as cardboard boxes, plastic bags and foil wrappings.
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Khapra Beetle
(Trogoderma granarium)
The Khapra Beetle is considered to be the world's most destructive pest of stored grain and grain products. If left uncontrolled, this beetle can cover the surface of stored grain making it appear alive with crawling larvae
Appearance
- The male is about 2 mm in length and the female is slightly larger (up to 3 mm).
- Dark-brown beetle with yellow-brown to red-brown markings on the wing covers.
- They are also covered with fine hairs which may trap dust, giving a dirty appearance.
- The larvae are yellow to golden brown and reach a length of up to 5 mm. They are covered with thick, red-brown hairs with two tufts at the end of the abdomen.
Lifecycle
- Adults are short-lived, completing their adult life in one to two weeks.
- Mating occurs almost immediately after adult emergence, with oviposition for one to six days following.
- In ideal conditions the life cycle can be completed in as few as 30 days.
- The female lays up to 125 eggs loosely in the infested material.
- Eggs hatch in five to seven days.
- The larvae undergo 4 - 7 molts, resulting in the shedding of numerous cast skins.
Habits
- It is also considered to be a dirty feeder as it breaks or powders more grain than it consumes.
- They also contaminate the grain with larval skins and setae which have been known to cause gastrointestinal irritation.
- Feeds on rice, peanuts, dried animal skins, as well as its preferred natural foods such as wheat and malted barley.
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Copra beetle/Red Legged Ham Beetle
(Necrobia Rufipes)
The confused flour beetle was named because of the confusion over its identity. It is a very common commercial and pantry pest.
Appearance
- Adults: 3/16" in length.
- The upper surfaces of the body are a shiny metallic bluish-green. The underside of the abdomen is dark blue. Their legs are bright reddish-brown or orange. The antennae are reddish–brown with a dark brown or black club at the tip.
Lifecycle
- Females lay up to 30 eggs per day in cracks or crevices of cured fish. The eggs take between four and six days to hatch.
- The larvae will grow for 30 to 140 days, become less active and look for a dark place to pupate.
- The pupal stage varies between 6 and 21 days.
- An adult will mate soon after emerging from its pupal stage and can live for up to 14 months.
Habits
- The adults fly and can therefore easily disperse to new sources of food.
- They are destructive in both the larval and adult stages, although the larval stage is the most destructive.
- They are also cannibalistic, preying on their own eggs and pupae.
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Granary Weevil
(Sitophilus Granarius)
The Granary Weevil is among the most destructive of all stored grain insects. The larvae develop inside kernels of whole grain in storage. This makes an infestation difficult to remove in the milling process.
Appearance
- Dark brown-black in colour.
- It is about 2.5 - 5 mm in length.
- They possess a long slender snout and cannot fly.
- In the larval stage the weevils are legless, humpbacked, white to creamy white, with a small, tan head.
- Weevils in the pupa stage have snouts like the adults.
Lifecycle
- The egg, larva, and pupa stages of these weevils occur in the grain kernels and are rarely seen.
- Emergence holes of the granary weevil are fairly large and tend to be more ragged than smooth and round.
- Females drill a tiny hole in the grain kernel, deposit an egg in the cavity, then plug the hole with a gelatinous secretion.
- The life cycle is about 30 to 40 days during the summer, and 123 to 148 days during the winter, depending on temperature.
Habits
- Most of their life is spent within the grain kernel.
- Both larvae and adults feed on grain.
- Grain weevils will also attack hard cereal products, e.g. macaroni and spaghetti.
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Rice Weevil
(Sitophilus Oryzae)
Rice weevils are pests of stored grain and seeds.
Appearance
- The adult rice weevil is 2.5 - 3.5 mm long and has a slender, hard-shelled bodies that appear pitted or scarred with tiny holes.
- They are brown-black in color and possess a long slender snout.
- Rice weevils have four faint red-brown spots on the back of the abdomen.
Lifecycle
- The adults live 3 to 6 months, infesting grain in the field.
- The egg, larva, and pupa stages of these weevils occur in the grain kernels and are rarely seen.
- Females drill a tiny hole in the grain kernel, deposit an egg in the cavity, then plug the hole with a gelatinous secretion.
- The egg hatches into a young larva which bores toward the center of the kernel, feeds, grows, and pupates there.
- New adults bore emergence holes from the inside, then leave to mate and begin a new generation.
- Female rice weevils lay between 300 to 400 eggs, with the life cycle requiring about 32 days for completion. Two larvae can develop in one wheat kernel.
Habits
- The adults can feign death by drawing up their legs close to the body, falling, and remaining silent when disturbed.
- Emergence holes of the rice weevil are smaller than those of the granary weevil, and tend to be smooth and round.
- There is generally no external evidence that the larvae have been eating and growing inside the seed until after about one month when the adult weevil chews through the seed coat and emerges.
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Flour beetle
(Tribolium castaneum)
Appearance
- Adult is 3–4 mm in length.
- Reddish brown in colour.
Lifecycle
- Under optimal conditions, it takes 20 days to develop from egg to adult.
Habits
- Larva and adult feed on wide range of durable commodities such as groundnuts, nuts, spices, coffee, cereals, dried fruits and animal feed.
- Disperses by flying and does not depend on human's movement of food products.