The litter beetle is a member of the family of darkling beetles, having a cosmopolitan distribution. They are infamous as a pest to stored food grains like flour, barley, wheat, soybean, cowpeas, peanut, and rice. At present, these beetles have emerged as a significant threat to poultry farms, causing severe damage to the farms and even harming the birds’ health if the latter ingests them.
Size: 6mm
Color: They have a shiny black or brown body and reddish-brown elytra. The color however, varies from one individual to the other, also changing with age.
Other Characteristic Features: It has an oval-shaped body, marked with a puncture-like pattern. The antennae are pale near the tips, covered with yellow hairs, while the elytra have shallow longitudinal grooves.
They are white on hatching but become darker yellow-brown on maturing. These grubs, closely resembling larvae of other mealworms, reach almost 11 mm, passing through 6-11 instars before advancing to the pupal phase. They have a tapering and segmented body alongcol3 three pairs of legs.
After maturing, they begin to pupate in secluded spots.
The eggs are narrow, with the color varying from whitish to tan, growing to a length of about 1.5mm. Females lay 200 – 400 eggs on average.
| Other names | Lesser mealworm |
| Lifespan | 1 year |
| Distribution | Native: Sub- Saharan Africa Invasive: Europe and North America |
| Habitat | Warm, humid environments |
| Seasons active | Not recorded |
| Predators | Poultry |
| Diet of adults | Bat guano, litter, bird droppings, mold, feathers, eggs, and carrion |
The larvae can cause damage to poultry houses by chewing through the wood and polystyrene insulation, especially while searching for pupation sites. When these beetles enter into the bird’s habitat, they even end up consuming their feed and irritate them by biting. If the adult beetles are consumed by poultry, they can cause digestive issues like gut lesions, and intestinal obstruction in the latter.
Image Source: bugguide.net, mwiah.com, biolib.cz, researchgate.net, grainscanada.gc.ca,
The litter beetle is a member of the family of darkling beetles, having a cosmopolitan distribution. They are infamous as a pest to stored food grains like flour, barley, wheat, soybean, cowpeas, peanut, and rice. At present, these beetles have emerged as a significant threat to poultry farms, causing severe damage to the farms and even harming the birds’ health if the latter ingests them.
Size: 6mm
Color: They have a shiny black or brown body and reddish-brown elytra. The color however, varies from one individual to the other, also changing with age.
Other Characteristic Features: It has an oval-shaped body, marked with a puncture-like pattern. The antennae are pale near the tips, covered with yellow hairs, while the elytra have shallow longitudinal grooves.
They are white on hatching but become darker yellow-brown on maturing. These grubs, closely resembling larvae of other mealworms, reach almost 11 mm, passing through 6-11 instars before advancing to the pupal phase. They have a tapering and segmented body alongcol3 three pairs of legs.
After maturing, they begin to pupate in secluded spots.
The eggs are narrow, with the color varying from whitish to tan, growing to a length of about 1.5mm. Females lay 200 – 400 eggs on average.
| Other names | Lesser mealworm |
| Lifespan | 1 year |
| Distribution | Native: Sub- Saharan Africa Invasive: Europe and North America |
| Habitat | Warm, humid environments |
| Seasons active | Not recorded |
| Predators | Poultry |
| Diet of adults | Bat guano, litter, bird droppings, mold, feathers, eggs, and carrion |
The larvae can cause damage to poultry houses by chewing through the wood and polystyrene insulation, especially while searching for pupation sites. When these beetles enter into the bird’s habitat, they even end up consuming their feed and irritate them by biting. If the adult beetles are consumed by poultry, they can cause digestive issues like gut lesions, and intestinal obstruction in the latter.
Image Source: bugguide.net, mwiah.com, biolib.cz, researchgate.net, grainscanada.gc.ca,
