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The dark flour beetle

Dark flour beetle
Dark flour beetle
Season for dark flour beetle
Season for dark flour beetle

Latin: Tribolium destructor.

A dark brown beetle that is 5-6 mm long and 2 mm wide. The larvae can be up to 10 mm long, plump and wormlike. Both the dark flour beetle and its larvae look like small versions of the yellow mealworm beetle and its larva, the mealworm. This species originates from Africa. The dark flour beetle has glands that can secrete a substance with Lysol or phenol-like odour that sticks to infested goods. Sometimes the smell is so strong that one can determine this type of beetle just by smelling it. If you squeeze it between your fingers the smell is in all cases clear.

A female lays about a thousand eggs in her lifetime. The eggs are placed in flour, grain or other starchy products such as bread, biscuits, macaroni and birdseed. The eggs hatch within a few weeks and the young larvae immediately begin eating. The larvae grow fastest at 28-30 ° C where the larval stage is over within just one month. At room temperature (19-20 ° C), larval development lasts approximately 2 months, while at 15-17 ° C it is extended to approximately 5 months. At temperatures below 13 ° C reproduction and larval development stop completely. The transformation from larva to adult, in the pupal stage, lasts about 2 weeks at 20 ° C. In a typical heated kitchen the development from egg to adult takes more than 3 months. This beetle may get more than 3 years old. The adult beetles often live in the same goods as larvae, but they can also be found in many other food products, and they can survive for months without food.

Since the dark flour beetles move around a lot, they can be difficult to exterminate, because there may be stray individuals all over a building and they will later return to the food. In residential buildings, dark flour beetles can travel along pipes and wires.

The most powerful method used to exterminate these individuals is probably vacuuming followed by spraying with a spray that contains pyrethrin. If you suspect that there are dark flour beetles in goods you can place the goods in a freezer for a couple of days just to be on the safe side. Dark flour beetles are sensitive to low temperatures.

Food Pests
Introduction
An old problem
Competition for food
Pests can ruin stored goods
Why not just eat the insects
Some insects are unhealthy to eat
Allergy to pests
Transmission of infectious diseases
Where do pests come from?
Synanthrope species
(1) The house dust mite and the sugar mite
(2) The firebrat and the silverfish
(3) The German cockroach and the forest cockroach
(4) The rust-red flour beetle and the confused flour beetle
(5) The merchant grain beetle and the saw-toothed grain beetle
(6) The cigarette beetle and the drugstore beetle
(7) The rice weevil and the granary weevil
(8) The pharaoh ant and the common black ant
History of the dark flour beetle
Pests in bird's nests
Mould fauna
The Look and Behaviour of pests
Insect appearance
Internal
Insect development
Insect senses
Behaviour
Water and Moisture
Temperature
What insects live off and live in
The Air
Mites
Bug Indentification
The various species
Mites
The flour mite
The sugar mite
The common house mite
The Lardoglyphus zacheri
The prune mite
The cheese mite
The house dust mite
The Cheyletus eruditus
Silverfish
The Silverfish
The firebrat
Cockroaches
The German cockroach
The Oriental cockroach
The brown-banded cockroach
The American cockroach
The extermination of cockroaches
Crickets
Earwigs
Booklice
Butterflies
The Mediterranean flour moth
The warehouse moth
Tropical warehouse moth
The brown house moth
The Indian meal moth
Grain beetles
The saw-toothed grain beetle
The merchant grain beetle
The rust-red grain beetle
Flour beetles
The yellow mealworm beetle
The lesser mealworm beetle
The dark flour beetle
The confused flour beetle
The rust-red flour beetle
The bolting cloth beetle
Furniture beetles
The drugstore beetle
The cigarette beetle
Bostrychidae
The lesser grain borer
True weevils snout beetles
The granary weevil
The rice weevil
The corn weevil
Bean weevils
The common bean weevil
The coffee bean weevil
Skin beetles
The bacon beetle
The dermestid beetle
The leather beetle
The khapra beetle
The reesa vespulae
Chequered beetles
The red-legged ham beetle
The red-breasted copra beetle
The black-legged ham beetle
Spider beetles
The Australian spider beetle
The white-marked spider beetle
The golden spider beetle
The smooth spider beetle
Plaster beetles
Flies
The common house fly
The lesser house fly
Blowflies
The grey flesh fly
The cheese skipper
Fruit flies
Hymenoptera
The common black ant
The pharaoh ant
Wasps
Birds
The domestic pigeon
The house sparrow
Prevention and control of birds
Rodents
The house mouse
The yellow-necked mouse
Mouse prevention
Mouse control
The brown rat
The black rat
Rat prevention
Rat control
Imaginary pests
Niches of food pests
A: The Waste Niche
B: The seed niche
C: The dead plant niche
D: The sugary excrement niche
E: The carrion niche
Prevention and Control, Integrated Control
A. Inspection of the company and its environment
The environment
The premises
Examination of raw materials and food on site
Sampling
Laboratory methods for detection of pests in food
B. Statement of the problem
C. Prevention and control
1. Proper organisation of the company
2. Proper operation
3. Exclusion, proofing buildings
4. Packaging
5. Non-chemical control measures
6. Chemical control
Resistance
D: Effective monitoring and communication
Appendix
Literature
Extermination with poison
International trade
Colouration of small, pale animals
Index

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