Home Stored Product Entomology - Conclusion

Conclusion

If these insects are found infesting stored products, it is not practical to automatically assume the store or producer is at fault. Although some infestations are not the consumer's fault, producers are held by the FDA action defect levels to ensure their product does not contain more than the allotted amount of insects/insect fragments/larvae. If a stored product is found to be infested by insects, and it is suspected that someone other than the consumer is at fault, a forensic entomologist can be contacted to make a determination. Again, it should not be assumed that these are the only five insects found in a common household pantry, but due to the large number of infestations by these five major groups, it can be safely deduced that it is perhaps one of these five. Stored product entomology is an important forensic field that is important to not only the government and the FDA but the general public, as it is involved in the consumption of food in everyday life.

Other stored product pests:

• Rice weevil Sitophilus oryzae
• Maize weevil Sitophilus zeamais
• Yellow mealworm Tenebrio molitor
• Red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum
• Confused flour beetle Tribolium confusum
• Spider beetle Mezium americanum
• Fur beetle or carpet beetle Attagenus pellio
• Black carpet beetle Attagenus unicolor
• Varied carpet beetle Anthrenus verbasci
• Furniture beetle Anobium punctatum
• Larder beetle Dermestes lardarius
• Khapra beetle Trogoderma granarium
• Lesser grain borer Rhyzopertha dominica
• Indian meal moth Plodia interpunctella
• Meal moth Pyralis farinalis
• Destructive flour beetle-- Tribolium destructor
• Sawtoothed grain beetle Oryzaephilus surinamensis
• Merchant grain beetle Oryzaephilus mercator
• Australian spider beetle Ptinus tectus
• Golden spider beetle Niptus hololeucus
• Red-legged ham beetle Necrobia rufipes
• Biscuit beetle Stegobium paniceum
• Cigarette beetle Lasioderma serricorne
• Cadelle beetle Tenebroides mauritanicus
• Hide beetle Dermestes maculatus
• Warehouse beetle Trogoderma variabile
• Clothes moths several species - chiefly webbing clothing moth Tineola bisselliella; casemaking clothes moth Tinea pellionella, and Phereoeca fallax
• Tapestry moth Trichophaga tapetzella
• Agoumis moth Sitotroga cerealella
• Yellow V moth or wine moth Oinophila v-flavum
• Mill moth or Medditerranean flour moth Ephestia kuehniella
• Warehouse moth Ephestia elutella
• Flour mite Acarus siro
• Silverfish Lepisma saccharina
• House cricket Acheta domesticus