Confused Flour Beetles

Latin Name: Tribolium confusum

Months of Activity: April - September

Confused Flour beetles have a very wide food range including cereals, grains, spices, grain products, shelled nuts, dried fruit, chocolate, drugs, peas, beans and other similar materials.

The average life span is about 1 year, but some have been known to live almost 4 years.

Appearance

• The adult Confused Flour Beetle is between 3-4mm in length and has a shiny reddish-brown body.
• The larvae are whitish to yellow-brown and grow to a length of 1-5mm. They have 3 pairs of legs and will moult 7-8 times.

Lifecycle

The females lay their small, white eggs loosely in flour or other food material. The eggs, which are coated with a sticky secretion, become covered with flour or meal and readily adhere to the sides of sacks, boxes, and other containers. They hatch into small worm-like larvae that are slender and cylindrical in appearance.

At this stage, it transforms into a small pupa. At first white, the pupa gradually changes to yellow and then brown, and shortly afterward transforms into a beetle. In summer, the period from egg to adult averages about 6 weeks.

Pest Control

Although larva and adults may be easily killed, eggs and pupa are not quite so susceptible. The first thing needed to be done is to eliminate the source of infestation. A thorough inspection should be made of infested premises to find all sources of infestation.

Once the source has been identified, usually the most simple and effective control measure is to quickly get rid of it. Heavily infested foods should be disposed of in wrapped, heavy plastic bags or in sealed containers and left for rubbish disposal services. If detection is performed early enough, disposal alone may solve the problem.

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