Black grain rodent

Tenebrioides mauretanicus

The black grain rodent is introduced into mills through animal feed. It primarily preys on other insect pests, e.g. flour mites, larvae of the grain weevil and related species. It prefers to attack the seedling of the grain. The beetle is shiny black-brown, strongly flattened, deeply constricted between the pronotum and rump, approx. 11 mm long. The number of eggs is between 500 and 1000. Dirty white larva, approx. 20 mm long, often bores into soft wood to pupate. Development period approx. 1 year. Beetle very long-lived.