Storing a large quantity of firewood in their basement was a common practice in past years, but they hadn’t burned through their indoor wood supply this year owing to relatively mild winter weather. The homeowner had a large stack of firewood in their basement to feed a wood-burning stove. However, a phone conversation with the homeowner revealed a key piece to the puzzle. So, why would large numbers of bark beetles be found in a home? This was a 'first' for me. As their name implies, they bore through the bark to tunnel and feed on the phloem as illustrated in the graphic below. Bark beetles focus their attention on stressed, dying, or dead trees. Along the way, it's a good idea to place vulnerable products in sealed plastic containers.īark beetles inside a home would be short-lived nuisance pests. Management involves tracking down and destroying the point source and then examining a wide range of products throughout a home, including inside an attached garage, to determine how far the infestation has spread. It can be difficult and time-consuming to eliminate an infestation. It's understandable for a homeowner to be concerned about pantry pests. Some of the cigarette beetles pictured in this Alert were found in a cayenne pepper product, no doubt singing a beetle version of “A Hot Time in the Old Town.” The bag pictured below shows beetle-processed poultry chick starter food.

biscuit beetle) (family Ptinidae, Stegobium paniceum) bear a strong resemblance.ĭespite their many common names, cigarette and drugstore beetles may infest a wide range of dried plant products. Cigarette Beetles (family Ptinidae, Lasioderma serricorne) and Drugstore Beetles (a.k.a. In general, as the pictures below demonstrate, it’s understandable for bark beetles to be mistaken for pantry pests. Most are cylindrical-shaped, but some are a bit more robust. They measure around 1/8” long some are slightly larger, some smaller. These tiny beetles range in color from brown to black. However, an attached image revealed the born identity of the culprits to be Bark Beetles (family Curculionidae, subfamily Scolytinae).

The concerned homeowner had used online resources to “identify” the beetles as a pantry pest. I recently received an e-mail message from a homeowner asking for help with small beetles found throughout their home collecting on window sills.

Biscuit beetle