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Biscuit and Cigarette Beetles
The beetles are about 2 3mm long and light brown to red brown in colour. Their bodies are covered with fine, silky hairs, and they have distinct grooves in their wing covers which can easily separate them from Tobacco Beetle. Biscuit Beetles have antenna that end in three enlarged segments.
Flour Beetles
The insects are about 3-4mm and reddish-brown in colour. The Confused Flour Beetle and the Red Flour Beetle are similar in appearance and habits. Adult Confused Flour Beetles have the antennae gradually enlarged toward the tip; the antennae of the Red Flour Beetle have the last three segments abruptly enlarged. Confused Flour Beetle (Tribolium confusum) cannot fly, but Rust Red Flour Beetle (Tribolium castaneum) may fly. In addition, the eyes (when viewed underneath) of the T. confusum are separated by a space equivalent to 3 times the diameter of the eye, whereas in the T. castaneum, this gap is less than 2 times the diameter.
Beetles attack milled grain products such as flour and cereals. These beetles often hitchhike into the house in infested flour and can build up into large populations on food accumulations in cabinet cracks and crevices and in furniture. The life cycle requires one to four months when temperatures are favourable and the female may live for as long as 2 years.
Larder Beetle
Adult Larder Beetles are about 8mm long and dark brown, with a broad, pale yellow, black-spotted band across the front portion of the wing covers. There are six black dots on this band, three on each wing cover, arranged in a triangle. The underside and legs are covered with fine, yellowish hairs. Other dermestes species include D. peruvianas (uniformly dark) and D. maculatus (black with patches of white hairs).
Females each lay about 135 eggs, which hatch in 12 or more days. Larvae prefer spoiled ham, bacon, dried beef and other meats. Larvae either bore into this meat or wander away to bore into wood, books and even metals such as lead and telephone cables to pupate. The life cycle requires 40 to 50 days.
Lesser Mealworm Beetle
Adult Lesser Mealworms are up to 6mm long, dark brown to black insects, with a distinctively dimpled thorax. The adults and larvae are often found in floor litter where they feed on poultry feed, dried bird droppings, and bird carcasses. Being a general scavenger, they can also be an occasional pest of stored products. In high numbers, in addition to being a vector for disease, the beetles can cause considerable structural damage as the larvae will often tunnel into polystyrene insulation materials or even wooden beams and supports in order to pupate.
Eggs are laid in batches and hatch in 4 to 5 days under typical room temperatures. The larval period can be as short as 8 weeks and following a 5 to 10 day pupal stage, the adult emerges. The average time from egg to adult takes about 80 days and the adults can live for several months.
Yellow Mealworm Beetle
The Beetles are robust, black and nearly 18mm long, resembling many ground beetles in size, shape and colour. The larvae are distinct, being honey yellow in colour with a smooth, highly polished, hard, cylindrical (wormlike) body about 3mm thick and up to 28mm long at maturity. Adult beetles are attracted to night-lights, are strong fliers, and are found in dark places. Each female lays about 275 eggs, which hatch into larvae in 4 to 14 days. Eggs are laid singly or in clusters during the spring over a period of 22 to 137 days. Larvae may spend up to two years in this stage depending on the environment. Individual larvae may wander far from the food source to pupate, making it difficult for homeowners to locate the source of infestation. Common sources are cornmeal, flour, cake mixes, cereals, meat scraps, dead insects, bran, litter from chicken houses and birds' nests.
Spider Beetles
Much larger than the Australian at up to 4.5mm long, has a roughly spherical shape and is covered in golden hairs and scales. Occurs in flour and feed mills, food warehousing and the domestic environment, seldom seen in more than small numbers.
Adults are extremely cold hardy, but free water is essential to them. They are nocturnal in foraging behaviour. A widespread pest in the food industry, larvae can bore through many types of packaging. There are usually up to 2 generations per year and the average lifespan is 9-12 months.
Grain Beetle
The adult is a small, active, brown beetle, 2-3mm long, with a flattened body and six saw-toothed projections on each side of the thorax. Similar in appearance is the Merchant Grain Beetle which has a slightly different shape to the head and thorax.
The females live from 6 to 10 months and deposit upwards of 250 eggs in foodstuffs. Several generations may occur each year, as the life cycle requires only 3 to 4 weeks during the summer, when conditions are at their most favourable.
Rust Red Beetles
Description: The insects are about 3-4mm and reddish-brown in colour. The confused flour beetle and the red flour beetle are similar in appearance and habits. Adult confused flour beetles have the antennae gradually enlarged toward the tip; the antennae of the red flour beetle have the last three segments abruptly enlarged. Confused Flour Beetle (Tribolium confusum) cannot fly, but Rust Red Flour Beetle (Tribolium castaneum) may fly. In addition, the eyes (when viewed underneath) of the T. confusum are separated by a space equivalent to 3 times the diameter of the eye, whereas in the T. castaneum, this gap is less than 2 times the diameter.
Beetles attack milled grain products such as flour and cereals. These beetles often hitchhike into the house in infested flour and can build up into large populations on food accumulations in cabinet cracks and crevices and in furniture. The life cycle requires one to four months when temperatures are favourable and the female may live for as long as 2 years.
Booklice
Booklice (psocids) are a common but harmless insect that can usually be found in animal nests, tree trunk crevices, under bark or on leaves. They are known better, however, as pests in the home as well as food manufacturing or retail premises.
These Psocids are tiny (about 1mm long) grey or brown insects. Food cupboards become infested with them, with the packaging from flour, milk, powder, sugar or semolina covered in them.
The food itself is not at fault. Psocids are not caused by poor hygiene, and in most cases the type of psocid found in domestic premises is not found in places where the food is produced.
Psocids are also known as Booklice because some types of the insect are attracted to delicate materials such as books and furs. Here they can cause significant damage, but you do not normally find this kind in the home.
Psocids do not cause any direct harm in small numbers although large infestations contaminate foods. They are also known to swarm over new plaster which may still be damp.
