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A food safety expert weighs in on flour bugs, also known as weevils, that can infest your pantry after one TikToker found her flour infested with the crawlers.
The confused flour beetle is very similar in appearance and habit to the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum and the destructive flour beetle, Tribolium destructor.Both the confused flour beetle and red flour beetle are small, about 3–6 mm (1/ 8 + 1 ⁄ 4-inch) in length, and reddish-brown in color.
Using a vacuum cleaner to clean the area thoroughly, especially in cracks and corners where insects may hide, will decrease the chances of re-infestation. Because food will be stored in that area again, pesticides are not a good method of eradication. Pesticides can leave a residue that can contaminate food products stored near it.
In current day, Tribolium are more commonly found in stored food products. However, originally Tribolium lived under the bark of trees or in rotting wood. It is unknown of the exact time that flour beetles made the switch from bark to food products, but for as long as humans created grain piles, flour beetles have been using them as habitats.
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Alternative common names are hanger-downers, weevil moth, pantry moth, flour moth or grain moth. The almond moth (Cadra cautella) and the raisin moth (Cadra figulilella) are commonly confused with the Indian-meal moth due to similar food sources and appearance. The species was named for feeding on Indian meal or cornmeal, and does not occur ...
"Look for bugs in sheets or mattresses, blood stains, exoskeletons or a musty odor," Dr. Giangreco says. "Treat the itch with anti-itch creams, topical corticosteroids or antihistamines." 5.
The adults are usually between 3 and 4.6 mm long, with a long snout. The body color appears to be brown/black, but on close examination, four orange/red spots are arranged in a cross on the wing covers. It is easily confused with the similar looking maize weevil. The maize weevil is typically somewhat larger than the rice weevil, but rice ...