As its name suggests, the Flour Beetle has a varied diet but most often feeds on flour and cereals, and will leave a nasty odor and taste to the flour they infest. Being where those food stores are drives the Flour Beetle's habits, infesting stored grain and grain products. The Flour Beetle is very small - about 1/7 of an inch long - so it can easily work its way into sealed containers.

While they tend to hide in dark places, Flour Beetles are attracted to light, but will run from any disturbance. Their flat, oblong bodies are red-brown in color and larvae are 1/4 inch long and range in color from yellow to white.

The lifespan of the Flour Beetle can be as long as three years. Females lay 300 to 400 eggs, whose life cycle is typically 7 weeks and can last as long as three months. Flour Beetles will breed 3 to 4 new generations each year.

Halt Bugology Factoid
An experiment carried out by MythBusters revealed that Flour Beetles are able to survive 100,000 rad, 100 times the immediate lethal dose of radiation for humans, in 10% of the cases. (Factoid Source: wikipedia)

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