Red Flour Beetle

The red flour beetle is a tenebrionid beetle. It is a worldwide stored product pest and model organism for ethological research.

Red flour beetles attack stored grain products (flour, cereals, pasta, biscuits, beans, nuts, etc.) causing loss and damage. They may cause an allergic response but are not known to spread disease and cause no damage to structures or furniture.

The red flour beetle is of Indo-Australian origin and less able to survive outdoors than the closely related species Tribolium confusum. It has, as a consequence, a more southern distribution, though both species are worldwide in heated premises. The adults are long-lived and may live for more than three years. Although previously regarded as a relatively sedentary insect, it has been shown by a combination of molecular and ecological research that T. castaneum will disperse considerable distances by adult flight