Red flour beetle
The red flour beetle is a tiny rusty brown beetle that lives in kitchens and food stores all over the world. It sneaks into flour, cereal, pasta and biscuits. It is smaller than a grain of rice, but it can live for years.
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Fun facts
A grown-up beetle can live for more than three years, which is very long for such a tiny insect.
It can fly, and scientists found it can travel quite far that way.
It first came from the warm lands around India and Australia and does not survive well outdoors in the cold.
Scientists all over the world study it in labs to learn about insects and how to keep food safe.
Keeping flour in a tightly closed container with no air getting in stops these beetles.
Most asked questions about Red flour beetle
?How do you get rid of red flour beetles?
Throw away food that has beetles in it, clean the cupboard well, and keep flour and cereals in tightly closed containers.
?Can red flour beetles fly?
Yes. Unlike its cousin, the confused flour beetle, it can fly.
?Are red flour beetles harmful to eat?
They do not bite, but they spoil food, so food with beetles in it should be thrown away.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Tribolium castaneum
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Tenebrionidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Tenebrionidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Red flour beetle (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by unknown author. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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