General
The Mediterranean flour moth can be found across the globe. Mediterranean flour moth lay their eggs in flour, bran, oatmeal, etc. They are also very common in flour factories. An adult flour moth is about 1 cm long and the span of the wings is 20mm to 28mm. The colour of the front wings is grey to black grey, the rear wings are yellow-white.

Development
Flour moths go through a complete transformation (metamorphosis) meaning that there are 4 life stages. Egg, larvae, pop and imago (adult insect). The female lays 600 to 700 eggs in bulk flour. At a temperature of about 20 C° it takes about 3 months from egg to adult insect. At 20 C° the egg stadium takes 11 days, the larvae stadium 56-70, pop stadium 17-20 days. The adult insect can reach an age of up to 2 weeks. Below 13 C° their development stops. In warm buildings, there are several generations per year.

Lifestyle
The eggs are laid in bulk flour, bran, oatmeal etc. Only the larvae that come out of the eggs feed on the aforementioned products. The adult moths don’t affect anything! The fully grown larvae sometimes leave the food source and make concoctions. Subsequently they pupate and the adult insects emerge from the pupae.

Damage
The damage caused by the flour moth consists of: loss of material due to damage to the flour, flour products, cocoa, chocolate, dried vegetables and fruit, nuts and other vegetable products. Contamination of said products with droppings and concoctions. Affected flour turns grey-brown and smells unpleasant. The flour spun together by the larvae can cause blockage in the pipes, funnels and sieves of flour factories.

Prevention
To prevent nuisance from flour moths, one must keep the temperature in storage areas below 13 C° and maintain low humidity (40 to 60%). Keep food in properly sealed canisters and prevent long-term storage. Affected supplies should be removed and the resulting empty areas should be properly cleaned.

Control
Pest control can be carried out by treating the surfaces and seams with a residual-acting or by means of misting or gassing. The exterminator of EWS is happy to inform you about the best solution.