The newly-matured adult is light, yellowish brown and becomes brown, dark brown and finally black at full maturity. This changes take place during pupation and brown or black adults may be seen emerging from the ground. During the first day or two after emergence, young beetles are active, take flight readily and orient toward light. Later they become less active and keep to less illuminated portions of the bee colony. Adults are covered with fine hair, which makes them difficult to pick up by hand.
Females begin to lay eggs about a week after emergence.
They are about one-third the size of a honey bee worker. Longevity appears to be evenly distributed across ages, ranging from only a few days to six months. Forty of sixty-eight individuals in Dr. Lundie's study lived over two months. Longevity and overlapping of generations makes the beetle a constant source of annoyance to beekeepers. The small hive beetle is not considered a major problem in South Africa.