Adults and larvae of the small hive beetle are found in active bee hives and stored bee equipment where they feed on honey and pollen.
Adults are red just after pupation and soon thereafter become blackish.
They move rapidly across comb and are difficult to pick up. The larvae are elongate, whitish grubs with rows of small spines along the back. Larvae look superficially like wax moth larvae, but the legs of beetle larvae are larger, more pronounced, and restricted to near the head. Beetle larvae do not spin webs or cocoons in the bee hive but rather pupate in the soil outside the hive. Pupae are whitish brown.