Rust Red Flour Beetle
Key Features
Rust Red Flour Beetles (Tribolium castaneum) are small oblong shaped insects that are reddish-brown in colour, and are about
3 - 4 mm in length, The adults are relatively long lived, living for as much as three years. Flour beetles are not known to spread
disease and do not feed on or damage the structure of a home or furniture
Flour Beetles are an important pest of stored products such as flour, spices and other food powders and can infest grain stores
where the grain has been damaged. Flour beetles cannot attack intact grain, rather they attack broken grains.
Biology
The lifecycle (egg to adult) normally takes between 40 and 90 days, but is temperature dependent.
Distribution
The red flour beetle is of Indo-Australian origin (Smith and Whitman) and is found in temperate areas, but will survive the winter in
protected places, especially where there is central heating (Tripathi et al. 2001). In the United States, it is found primarily in the
southern states. The confused flour beetle, originally of African origin, has a different distribution in that it occurs worldwide in
cooler climates. In the United States it is more abundant in the northern states.
Significance
Causes damage to finished products, causes an unpleasant taint to foodstuffs, and can contaminate large volumes of food.
Control
The first step in managing an infestation is to find and remove the source of the infestation (Koehler 2003). Flour beetles can feed
and survive on even the smallest bits of grain, so cleaning is a crucial part of controlling these pests. In large-scale infestations,
fumigation (the treatment of the infested material via the application of toxic gas) may be appropriate.
In mills, cleaning and heat treatment of infested machinery can be very effective.
