SAP Beetle (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae)
Facts
- Adults are 2 to 4 mm in length, oval, flattened and light brown to black in colour often with 1 or 2 yellow to reddish brown spots.
- Sap beetles are highly mobile.
- They have a very high reproductive rate: a single female can lay up to 1000 eggs over a 3 to 4 month period.
- Females lay eggs on or in food.
- Larvae are active and move amongst the food, burrowing into food material.
- Populations develop rapidly.
- Larvae may burrow into moldy grain residues.
- SAP beetles may transmit mold spores, bacteria and yeasts.