Confused flour beetle
The confused flour beetle is a tiny reddish brown beetle that lives in flour and grain. It is one of the most common pests in kitchens, bakeries and food stores. It is so small it could sit on a grain of rice.
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Fun facts
It cannot fly, unlike its close cousin, the red flour beetle.
You can tell it apart from the red flour beetle by its feelers, which slowly get thicker towards the tip.
Grown-up beetles and larvae sometimes eat the beetles' own eggs, which keeps the family from getting too big.
It first came from Africa and likes cooler places than the red flour beetle.
Flour with these beetles in it can smell bad and start to grow mould.
Most asked questions about Confused flour beetle
?How do flour beetles get into the kitchen?
They usually come in packets of flour or grain from the shop, then spread to other dry food in the cupboard.
?Can flour beetles fly?
The confused flour beetle cannot fly. Its cousin, the red flour beetle, can fly short distances.
?Are flour beetles harmful?
They do not bite, but they spoil food, and their smelly juices can irritate skin.
Myth buster
Myth: It is called confused because it walks around in a confused way.
Truth: No. It got its name because people kept confusing it with the red flour beetle. It walks perfectly normally.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Tribolium confusum
- 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
- Confused 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 Sarefo. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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 [email protected] and we will fix it.
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