This pest develops on stored grains and oilseeds on farms and in primary elevators throughout the Prairie Provinces and most of Canada. The adult is reddish brown and 0.4 cm long. Larvae and adults feed on broken kernels. Adults fly in warm weather or may be blown by the wind into farmhouses or other buildings. The females lay 300 to 900 eggs loosely on top of a grain mass or in flour.
Hatching produces worm-like larvae, whitish in colour with pale brown bands.
Page up The red flour beetle is more common in elevators or farm bins. The adult resembles that of the red flour beetle and is difficult to distinguish without a microscope or magnifying glass. Larvae and adults feed on flour, feed, and other ground material. Unlike the red flour beetle, the confused flour beetle is more common in flour mills than elsewhere, and the adults do not fly. The development from egg to adult takes 15 to 20 days under optimum temperatures between 32 and 35 C and a relative humidity of 70 percent.