the beetle is a shiny, reddish- brown, about 3.5 mm long, flattened and oval (fig.). the wing covers...
TRANSCRIPT
The beetle is a shiny, reddish-brown, about 3.5 mm long, flattened and oval (Fig.).
The wing covers are ridged lengthwise and sparsely punctured between the ridges.
The average life of the beetles is about 1 year, but some have been known to live as long as 45 months.
Adult Beetle
Virtual Academy for the Semi Arid Tropics
Lesson 2: Confused Flour Beetle
Module V: Storage Pests
Course on Insect Pests of Sorghum
Virtual Academy for the Semi Arid Tropics
Lesson 2: Confused Flour Beetle
Course on Insect Pests of Sorghum
Module V: Storage Pests
The females lay an average of about 450 eggs each.
The small white eggs are laid loosely in flour or other food material in which the adults are living.
They are covered with a sticky secretion and thus become covered with flour or meal, and readily adhere to the sides of sacks, boxes, and other containers, so that fresh material placed in them is rapidly infested.
Virtual Academy for the Semi Arid Tropics
Lesson 2: Confused Flour Beetle
Course on Insect Pests of Sorghum
Module V: Storage Pests
The eggs hatch after 5-12 days into small worm-like grubs, slender, cylindrical, and wiry in appearance.
When fully grown, they are about 4.5 mm long, and are white, tinged with yellow (Fig.).
They then transform to small naked pupae.
Grub of Confused Flour Beetle
Virtual Academy for the Semi Arid Tropics
Lesson 2: Confused Flour Beetle
Course on Insect Pests of Sorghum
Module V: Storage Pests
Damage
The larvae feed on flour or other material such as grain dust and the broken surfaces of grain kernels.
Management
Storing products in sealed containers provides effective control. Fumigants are also effective.
Virtual Academy for the Semi Arid Tropics
Lesson 2: Confused Flour Beetle
Course on Insect Pests of Sorghum
Module V: Storage Pests
The Lesson 2 on Confused Flour Beetle that infest stored sorghum grains concludes.
The Lesson 3 is about Red Flour Beetle that affects sorghum grain in storage.
Select Lesson 3 from Module V contents
Virtual Academy for the Semi Arid TropicsModule V: Storage Pests
Course on Insect Pests of Sorghum