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LESSER GRAIN BORER FACTS |
Identification
The Lesser Grain Borer is a small black or dark brown beetle. The body is slender and cylindrical. The head is hidden under the prothorax which is finely textured with bumps and dimples. The elytra (hardened front wings forming the shell) have rows of pits along their length. The antennae have 10 segments with the last 3 forming a club shape. The larvae are white, stout and c-shaped.
Size
adults are 2mm - 3mm long
Food
The lesser grain borer is a serious pest of stored grain and cereal products. The adults and larvae bore into grain seeds and eat the kernel leaving a hollow husk. They are mainly a pest in stored wheat and corn, but can also infest nuts, beans, dried fruit, peanuts and various other types of stored food.
Breeding
Adult females lay their eggs singly or in groups of up to thirty eggs. The eggs are laid on the outside of a grain or in the powdered "flour" from damaged seeds. The lifecycle from egg to adult takes about 60 days, but may take as few as 30 days in warm conditions. The larva pupates inside as hollow seed or in the accumulated powdered flour from the infestation.
Classification
| Class: | Insecta | | Order: | Coleoptera | | Family: | Bostrichidae | | Genus: | Rhyzopertha | | Species: | dominica | | Common Name: | Lesser Grain Borer |
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