The destructive or dark flour beetle (''Tribolium destructor''), is one of the species of

darkling beetle Darkling beetle is the common name for members of the beetle family Tenebrionidae, comprising over 20,000 species in a cosmopolitan distribution. Taxonomy ''Tenebrio'' is the Latin generic name that Carl Linnaeus assigned to some flour beetles ...

known generally as

flour beetle Flour beetles are members of several darkling beetle genera including '' Tribolium'' and ''Tenebrio''. They are pests of cereal silos and are widely used as laboratory animals, as they are easy to keep. The flour beetles consume wheat and other ...

s. It is a common pest insect known for attacking and infesting stored

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

and

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

. It is a very dark brown beetle (darker than other ''Tribolium'' species) 5–6 mm long. ''T. destructor'' is found in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. In addition to damaging flour and grain, it attacks animal food pellets, rolled oats, and poultry feed.Granousky TA. 1997. ''Stored Product Pests''. ''In Handbook of Pest Control'', 8th Ed. Hedges SA, Moreland D (editors). Mallis Handbook and Technical Training Company.

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*''Tribolium'' species are hard to identify. Here are four species side by side. Note that several species of ''Tribolium'' may occur in the same infestatio
Colpolon
Tenebrioninae Household pest insects Storage pests Beetles of North America Beetles described in 1934 {{Tenebrionidae-stub

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