Appearance:

The beetle is 2-4 mm long, of reddis-brown color, with fine hairs on its oval body. The head is hidden under the uniformly-domed neck shield; the wing covers are finely patterned with lines of dots; the last three antennal segments are particularly long. The larvae grow to a length of 5 mm.

Life History:

The female deposits 20-100 eggs on suitable nutrients, either singly or in clusters. The tiny young larvae can penetrate even the finest cracks, for example, in foodstuff packaging; in the substrate they then form a cocoon of nutrient particles, in which also pupation takes place. The entire development period at 63° F. is about 200 days, but only 70 days at 83° F.

Distribution:

World-wide.

Damage:

An important household and warehouse pest, particularly when infested goods are left undisturbed for longer periods. The larvae are omnivorous and are found in all possible vegetable substances such as bakery goods and other flour and cereal products, herbs, spices, oilseed cake, etc. When badly infested, solid products are full of small round holes. The beetles do not feed.