PANTRY PESTS

GRANARY WEEVILS

Adult Granary Weevils are an oval shape and average 3 to 5 mm in length. They are reddish-brown in colouration and this makes them easily recognizable. While Granary weevils have wings, they cannot fly. Their larvae look like white, legless grubs.

Granary Weevils can generally go undetected until there is a major problem as the larvae mature inside of your packaged foods and spend most of their time inside of product packaging maturing on various types of grains. If your food is compromised, they will appear wet, and grains will be littered with holes.

GRAIN WEEVILS

Grain Weevils get their name from the stored grains they use to sustain themselves. This can include wheat, cereals, rice and more. These Weevils have made their mark for creating a serious threat to agriculturally stored grain quality, making them a serious threat around the globe.

Grain Weevils are a Dark reddish brown colour and can appear patchy. They also have four light-coloured patches on their wings, as adults they can fly and are attracted to light. An adult grain weevil is approximately 2 – 3 mm in length and is smaller than a grain of rice. They can be easily identified by their distinctive narrow snout.

RED FLOUR BEETLES

The Red Flour Beetle is a worldwide pest of stored products such as flour, cereals, pastas, biscuits, beans, and nuts, causing loss and damage for major food supply chains. Adult beetles are small and usually between 3 – 4 mm long, and are rusty, brown, or black in colour. Their heads and pronotum are quite often darker than the rest of their body.

Red flour beetles thrive in warm, dry environments, Adults are extremely active and tend to quickly infest our stored food products. They also tend to thrive inside cabinets and pantries, where spilled food can be found and a female will lay up to 450 sticky, white eggs onto the food source so the larvae can eat once hatched.

CONFUSED FLOUR BEETLES

The Confused Flour Beetles are approximately 2.5 – 3.5 mm in length, and like their cousins the red flour beetle they are red or brown in colour and get their name from how often they are confused with the red flour beetle, not because of the goofy walking patterns. While these beetles do have wings, they do not fly. They have thin long antennae that grow larger near the tips, like a moth or a butterfly.

The confused flour beetles have a few favourite spots that they like to occupy such as kitchen cabinets and drawers, bathrooms, and especially Food-storage areas such as pantries. They are highly attracted to sources of light and grain foods with higher moisture contents, which can lead them to the most vulnerable parts of a home.

SAWTOOTHED GRAIN BEETLES

Adult Sawtoothed Grain Beetles are brown with thin bodies and are about 3 mm in length with serrated sides on the pronotum. Adults are very similar to the Merchant Grain Beetles in appearance but have wider temple while it is narrower in the merchant grain beetle. Their larvae are pale yellow to white and generally flat.

The Sawtoothed Grain Beetle is one of the most common insects found in Canadian farms where grains are stored. They prefer warm heated environments such as warehouses, homes, food mills and even elevators. While they prefer warm heated environments they can survive through Canadas harsh winters in unheated structures.

DRUG STORE BEETLES

The Drug Store Beetle ranges in size from 2.5 – 3.5 mm in length. They are usually either a dark or reddish brown colour. The life cycle of this insect is usually about 75 days to complete and prefers a moderate amount of humidity and a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius.

Female Drugstore Beetles will feed and lay a single egg where they fed. When the eggs hatch, they become larvae and will feed on nearby food sources. Female drugstore beetles also lay up to 100 eggs in their lifespan. They also have very strong jaws, capable of chewing through hard surfaces such as wood or foil.

Drug Store Beetles are appropriately named as they feed on items most found in pharmacies such as papers and books. In homes they can be found in pantries where dry goods can be found.

CIGARETTE BEETLES

Adult Cigarette Beetles are light brown and approximately 2 – 3 mm long. Their wing covers, also known as the elytra, are smooth and their antennae segments are serrated all the way to the tip. Their eggs are oval and glossy and whiteish in colour. They are very small, and magnification would be required to see them clearly.

The female beetle will lay up to 100 eggs with their 2 – 4-week life span. Their eggs are mostly laid on a food source such as grains to allow a plentiful feeding experience for their larvae. They are most active in the late afternoon and are excellent flyers. These beetles can only survive in warm building temperatures.

FOREIGN GRAIN BEETLES

The Foreign Grain Beetle is small and brown in colour, they are approximately 2 mm in length. Their larvae are very small and a yellowish white colour. Adults can climb on glass. They mostly feed on grains, cereal products, herbs, spices, and even dried fruit. This insect, while not posing a huge economic problem to mill and warehouse financial losses, it does however pose a contamination issue if found in those products being farmed. These insects are typically present in the fields at the time of harvest and sometimes subsequently get transferred into bins.

MERCHANT GRAIN BEETLES

The Merchant Grain Beetle is dark brown in colour and approximately 2.5 – 3 mm long. This pest thrives in packaged grains, fruits, and tobacco. When it comes to finding them in your homes, they are most known to infest dry foods in your pantries.

These beetles generally enter your home through infested food packages, and you may not even notice them until you have opened the packages and find adult insects inside along with their larvae. The merchant grain beetle can and will move from unit to unit in apartment buildings if the initial infestation is not managed in time.

WAREHOUSE BEETLES

Adult Warehouse Beetles are brownish black in appearance, their wing covers (elytra) are covered with very fine hairs that create a pattern of colouration. They are approximately 2 – 3 mm in length and their eggs are oval with an ivory colour and are 0.5mm long. Their Larvae are 6 – 7 mm long and are yellow to dark brown-coloured bodies. These beetles are amazing flyers and will fly freely from outside to inside.

Warehouse Beetles can eat a very wide range of dried foods including pet foods, cereals, grains or really any other type of dried foods.

ANGOUMOIS GRAIN MOTH

While this moth can be found worldwide in mild to warm temperature ranges it is only located in southern Ontario in Canada. The Angoumois grain moth is often referred to as the “rice grain moth”. They can lay up to 150 eggs in their lifespan and burrow into kernel grains of crops, making them inedible for human consumption by laying eggs between the grains themselves. Their eggs will typically hatch during the foods processing, transportation, or storage phases.

Adult Angoumois grain moths are typically smaller than most other stored-product moths. They are pale in colour and have a wingspan of 12 – 14mm in length. They commonly feed on wheat, barley, corn, and rice and the presence of an adult flying around is an indication that there is an infestation nearby, and it may be time to check your pantry goods.

INDIAN MEAL MOTH

The Indian Meal Moths’ body is 6 to 7 mm in length and has a wingspan of 16 – 20 mm. Adult Indian Meal Moths have 2 distinctive colours on their wings, the upper areas are a yellowish light brown while the bottom portion of their wings are a darker reddish-brown colour. The Indian meal moth’s larvae are pale in colour with possible shades of pink or green depending on their diet, have a caterpillar body and are wingless.

The Indian meal moth can be found in Canada across grocery stores, warehouses and in your home inside of grains, chocolate, spices, seeds, beans etc. A single female adult can lay a hundred of sticky eggs directly onto a food source.