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Conrad Bérubé |
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Merchant Grain Beetle
family: cucujidae
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Merchant Grain Beetle Oryzaephilus mercator Fauvel The merchant grain beetle, originally a tropical insect, is now a widespread pest in Canadian kitchens. Although it prefers foods with a high oil content (such as rolled oats, sunflower seeds and nuts), it feeds on many others, including processed cereals, dried fruits, confections, seeds, spices and pet foods. It is often found in cracks and crevices in kitchens, but not in stored grain.
Normally, the beetles' eggs are carried into the home in food. After hatching, the larvae (and later the adults) feed on this food and then spread to adjacent foods; here they may breed and cause further damage and contamination. In apartment buildings, they somearial migrate, spreading from unit to unit and becoming a chronic pest.
Superficially,
the adult resembles the sawtoothed grain beetle. |
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