Flour beetle

Flour beetles are members of several darkling beetle genera including Tribolium and Tenebrio. They are pests of cereal silos and are widely used as laboratory animals, as they are easy to keep. The flour beetles consume wheat and other grains, are adapted to survive in very dry environments, and can withstand even higher amounts of radiation than cockroaches. Red flour beetles infest multiple different types of products such as grains, cereals, spices, seeds, and even cake mixes. They are also very susceptible to insecticides, which makes their damage very impactful on the economy of milling industries. The larvae of T. molitor, when full-grown, are known as mealworms; small specimens and the larvae of the other species are called mini mealworms. Female reproduction is distributed over their adult life-span which lasts about a year. Flour beetles also display pre-mating discrimination among potential mates. Female flour beetles, specifically of T. castaneum, can mate with different males and may choose more attractive males over the course of their adult life-span.