*4.6.9 Rust-red flour beetle or red flour beetle (*Tribolium castaneum *(Herbst, 1797) Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)*

*Distribution*: Being cosmopolitan in nature red flour beetle**,** is mainly found all around the world.

*Host range*: It is a serious pest of cereal products, including grain, flour, porridge oats, and rice bran. Other products which may be attacked are oilseed, oil cake, nuts, dried fruit, spices, chocolate, and even bones of animals.

*Bionomics*: The rust-red flour beetle is cosmopolitan, shiny, reddish-brown, has antennae enlarged at the tip with the three-segmented club, head margins are continuous and not expanded and notched at the eyes (**Figure 9**). They are notorious for causing bad smells and tastes imparted to the food materials they infest. Their main hosts are maize, wheat, and other mills and granaries.

*Damage symptoms*: When present in abundance, this beetle makes the flour prone to molding and also turns the products into a gray color.
