Common Pantry Pests

Indian Meal Moths are among the most common stored product pests. The adults (left) are about 1/2" in length and are gray, black, and brown in color. They can often be seen fluttering around kitchen cabinets or other areas where food is stored.

The larvae (right) are creamy-colored and can be found infesting a wide variety of plant-based foods, especially corn meal, flour, and other partially processed grain products. They also will infest potpourri, dried flowers, and similar plant products.

Sawtoothed Grain Beetles are small (about 1/8" in length), and reddish-brown in color. Their name comes from the distinct sawtooth pattern on the sides of the thorax. Their larvae are creamy white and can be found feeding on small particles of grain-based foods.

Sawtoothed grain beetles look a lot like merchant grain beetles, and their biology and control methods are quite similar. One quick way to tell them apart is that adult merchants fly, whereas sawtoothed's do not.

Adults drugstore beetles are about 1/8" in length. They are brown in color and are good fliers. The larvae are creamy colored and are usually found in or near the source of food.

Drugstore beetles commonly infest cereals, cookies, chocolate, spices, and pet foods. They are closely related to the cigarette beetle, which has similar habits. The two can be distinguished by the drugstore beetle's distinct longitudinal lines on the wing covers, which are absent on the cigarette beetle.

Adults of both confused flour beetles and red flour beetles are about 1/8" or less in length. Their larvae are yellowish in color and can be found in or near the source of food.

Confused flour beetles and red flour beetles commonly infest flour and other milled grains, but will they attack almost any grain-based foods including cookies, crackers, and cereals. They cannot penetrate nor feed upon intact, whole grains.

Confused flour beetles (left) and red flour beetles (right) look nearly identical to the naked eye. But under a microscope or a strong magnifying glass, one can see that the antennae segments of the confused flour beetle gradually increase in size, whereas the antennae of the red flour beetle are clubbed.

Behaviorally, adult red flour beetles fly, whereas confused flour beetles do not.

Dermestid beetles are a large group of primarily carnivorous beetles that include larder beetles, carpet beetles and cabinet beetles.

Unlike most other stored product pests, dermestid beetles prefer meat-based foods like pet foods, soup bases, and beef jerky. They also commonly infest non-food items such as furs, wool carpeting, and cashmere sweaters; and sometimes become a secondary pest when they feed on the feathers or fur of dead birds or other animals trapped in structures.

Rice weevils (and their closely related cousins, granary weevils) are internal feeders. They penetrate and feed on the internal portions of whole grains during their larval stage, eating the grain from the inside-out.

Rice weevils and granary weevils commonly infest whole seed products such as wheat, oats, rye, barley, rice, corn, beans, nuts, and birdseed. On occasion, they also may infest milled grain products such as flour, spaghetti, and crackers.