American Spider Beetle Bean Weevil
Cigarette Beetle Cowpea Weevil
Dried Fruit Beetle Drugstore Beetle
Foreign Grain Beetles Indian Meal Moth
Larder Beetle Mediterranean Flour Moth
Red or Confused Flour Beetle Rice & Granary Weevils
Sawtoothed & Merchant Grain Beetles Shiny Spider Beetle
Warehouse & Cabinet Beetles  

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Mediterranean Flour Moth Anagasta kuehniella

Size:

Up to 5/8 inch in length; wingspan less than 1 inch.

Color:

The front wings are a pale gray with transverse black wavy bars.

Behavior:

The female deposits her eggs in any suitable food material and usually fastens them to the food particles. The young larva spins silken tubes constantly and spends its time in these tubes feeding. The silk causes balls of form, which can clog machinery in flour mills, necessitating downtime to clean the machines. The larvae may pupate in a cocoon within the flour or on the surface of the flour. They may also pupate in some crack or crevice either within or without a cocoon, often migrating from the food source in search of a pupation site. These larvae are therefore commonly seen significant distances from the breeding source. The life cycle from egg to adult can be completed in four to six weeks in heated buildings and six or more generations per year can occur. The adult moths are active fliers and fly in a very rapid zigzag fashion.