grain beetle

English

a foreign grain beetle

a saw-toothed grain beetle

Noun

grain beetle (plural grain beetles)

1. Any of several beetles from the families Silvanidae and Laemophloeidae that infest grains and grain products.
   • 1987, Gennadiĭ Alekseevich Zakladnoĭ, Vera Flegontovna Ratanova, Stored Grain Pests and Their Control, Oxonian Press, page 41,

     For instance, the saw-toothed grain beetle is commonly found, and prefers to develop, in dry fruits and naturally, its occurrence is mainly limited to fruit growing regions. The rusty grain beetle prefers crushed grain and therefore, usually inhabits grain mills and is widely distributed.

   • 1995, Bhadriraju Subramanyam, David W. Hagstrum, “4: Sampling”, in Bhadriraju Subramanyam, David W. Hagstrum, editors, Integrated Management of Insects in Stored Products, page 159:

     Taylor's power law overestimated the variance for the flat grain beetle and squarenosed fungus beetle (Lathridius minutus [L.]), and underestimated the variance for foreign grain beetle, larger black flour beetle, rusty grain beetle, and hairy fungus beetle.

   • 2002, Linda Mason, “19: Insects and Mites”, in Y. H. Hui, L. Bernard Bruinsma, J. Richard Gorham, Wai-Kit Nip, Phillip S. Tong, Phil Ventresca, editors, Food Plant Sanitation, page 300:

     Adults (0.3 cm in length) of the sawtoothed grain beetle and the merchant grain beetle are very similar in appearance to each other but can be easily distinguished from other food pest insects by the six sawlike projections on each side of the prothorax.

Derived terms

• flat grain beetle (Cryptolestes pusillus)
• foreign grain beetle (Ahasverus advena)
• merchant grain beetle (Oryzaephilus mercator)
• rusty grain beetle (Cryptolestes ferrugineus)
• saw-toothed grain beetle (Oryzaephilus surinamensis)
• square-necked grain beetle (Cathartus quadricollis)

See also

• flour beetle