Pests of the Past October: Stored product pests
 
The purpose of this section is to provide quick and easy identification of various insects and rodents. The pest characteristics are relative to the Chicagoland area. While the insects and/or rodents are active in most parts of the country; the peak activity period will vary according to your location. You will find listed for each month the insect and/or rodent with a history of peak activity during that month. Pest enders has simplified the identification procedure.

A more detailed identification process is available at the "pestweb" icon located at the bottom of the page. On screen prompts will guide you through a detailed identification process.

There are two common stored product pests the consumer will contact at some point in time. The two are Indian Meal Moths and Sawtooth Grain Beetles. The following is a brief description of each:

 
The Sawtooth Grain Beetle - The adult is a small (1/10 inch in length), active, brown beetle. While it has well developed wings it does not fly. It has six saw like margins on each side of its thorax (just below the head). These saw like margins are the reason for its name. This beetle will live up to a year. It attacks such foods as cereals, dried fruits, breakfast foods, macaroni, sugar, drugs, dried meats, chocolate and tobacco. This beetle readily enters packaged products. The larval (worm) stage of this insect is yellowish with a brown head. This insect best develops in high humidity with a temperature range of 86 F to 95 F. All stages succumb when exposed to temperatures 0 F to 5 F for one day or to 125 F for one hour. This process must be accomplished or the infested material found and removed as part of the elimination process. The application of a residual insecticide into cracks and crevices in the infested area is also an integral part of the elimination process.
 
The Indian Meal Moth - The adult moth has a wing span of about 5/8 inch. There is a broad grayish band across the bronzy appearing wings. They are general feeders on such items as grain products, dried fruits, seeds, graham crackers, nuts, powdered milk, bird seed, chocolate, candies, dried red peppers, and dehydrated dog foods containing meat. The life cycle of this insect will range from 35 to 305 days depending on the food available and the temperature in the infested area. The larval stage is a grayish white worm ½ to 5/8 inch long. The larval stage spins a small cocoon in the vicinity of its food source. The adult (winged) stage will often be observed in areas other than the source of the infestation. Removal or fumigation is the only way to treat infested material. All infested food products must be removed or any treatment rendered will fail to eliminate this moth.  Once the infested material has been treated or removed, an application of residual insecticide into cracks and crevices will be necessary to eliminate this insect.
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