*4.4.3 Meal snout moth (*Pyralis farinalis *(Linnaeus, 1758) Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)*

*Distribution:* Snout moths (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), which are also called grass moths or pyralid moths are found throughout the world.

*Host range:* The meal snout moth is usually found in flour meals and cereals of all kinds.

*Bionomics*: The meal snout moth is brown, larger than the Indian meal moth with patterned fore wings. Larvae which are black and white when fully grown, usually feed on cereals of all kinds and spin their resting place of peculiar tubes made up of silk and food particles. Fully-grown larvae come out from these tubes, spin silk cocoons, and transform into pupae. During favorable conditions, pupae are transformed into adult moths to start the new generation.

**Figure 6.** *Dorsal view of adult of* Ephestia kuehniella*.*

*Damage symptoms*: Silk cocoons inside which pupae are resting are the main indication of this pest. Brown moths are seen flying through the windows of storerooms.
