In Focus: Cigarette Beetle (Tobacco Beetle)

An in-depth look at the cigarette beetle, Lasioderma serricorne, also known as the tobacco beetle.

The cigarette beetle, Lasioderma serricorne, is a common stored product pest in both homes and food handling businesses. Also called the tobacco beetle or cigar beetle, its name is a bit of a giveaway in that it is a major pest of stored tobacco leaves and tobacco products. However, it is actually a pest in a wide range of stored product goods and is one of the most common stored product beetles globally.

 

Identification

As with many of the stored product beetles, their size and similarity to each other can make identification difficult. Cigarette beetles are small, brown oval-shaped beetles, 2 to 3.5 mm long. They have serrated antennae, and the elytra (wing covers) are smooth. The larvae are white ‘curl grubs’ up to 4 mm long, with three pairs of legs. They can move quite rapidly.

Cigarette beetles can be easily confused with the drugstore beetle, Stegobium paniceum, which is also a member of the anobiid family (a group that includes furniture beetles and powder post beetles). In contrast to the cigarette beetle, the drugstore beetle has a distinctive three-clubbed antennae and has hairy, striated elytra.

 

Life cycle

The life cycle is completed in 6-12 weeks, dependent on temperature and food availability. Female beetles can lay eggs in batches of 10-100 eggs, depending on the quality of food sources and amount of competition. The larvae moult 4-6 times during a 5-10 week developmental period and build their cocoon from the food substrate. Adult beetles live for 1-4 weeks.

 

Distribution

The cigarette beetle is essentially a tropical/sub-tropical pest, with the optimal temperature for reproduction being 30-33°C. The life cycle is not completed at temperatures below 17°C. However, it has been transported globally inside stored products and can exist indoors in a wide range of climates.

 

What do cigarette beetles eat?

Cigarette beetles will eat a wide range of dry packaged plant-based foods, as well as tobacco. They perhaps have the widest diet of the common stored product pests, also including animal-based products and rodent baits. They are capable of infesting flours and cereal products, dried fruits, herbs and spices (including cayenne pepper and paprika).

The cigarette beetle is one of the few animals capable of eating tobacco leaves, which are low in nutrients and contain nicotine, a known insecticide. It appears that it can eat tobacco leaves as the vast majority of the nicotine is not absorbed and is passed through the gut unmetabolized. Although their ability to feed on tobacco gives rise to their name, they actually prefer to eat other foodstuffs with higher nutritional value. In particular, they reproduce and develop far quicker when consuming food containing wheat flour. Even amongst the different tobacco types they will preferentially choose tobacco types with higher sugar levels and lower nicotine content.

They will also eat certain non-food plant and animal products, including dried plants, pinned insects, furniture stuffing, papier-mâché and bookbinding paste.

It’s the larvae that do most of the damage, although the adults can damage food packaging when they try and escape from the food substrate after emerging from their pupa. They cut small circular holes in the packaging (paper, cardboard and plastic), similar to the exit holes cut in timber by their close relative, the furniture beetle.

 

Signs of a cigarette beetle infestation

Infestations often go unnoticed until well developed, as generally stored products are not inspected on a regular basis. Infested foods will have all life stages present, as well as frass and insect parts. However, the adult beetles are quite mobile and strong flyers, so if the beetles are spotted in the kitchen or in an area where products are stored, it is likely that there is an infested food source nearby.

 

Cigarette beetle about to take flight
Cigarette beetles are strong flyers

 

Interesting features and behaviours

Female beetles release the sex pheromone serricornin to attract male beetles, which is vital for a successful mating. Synthetic serricornin is used as an attractant in commercial cigarette beetle traps.

Cigarette beetles have a symbiotic relationship with yeasts that produce vitamin B. The vitamin B is deposited on eggs before laying and is ingested by the hatching larvae when they eat the egg material. This allows the larvae to feed and survive on low-nutrient food items.

 

How to control a cigarette beetle infestation?

In the domestic situation, the use of insecticides is not normally required. The key step is to find and remove any infested material, which should be placed in sealed, heavy plastic bags and placed in the outdoor garbage bins. If the customer wishes to keep the infested materials, especially if they are non-food materials, they can undergo fridge (16 days at 4°C), freezer (seven days below freezing) or oven treatment (one hour at 90°C or 24 hrs at 50°C), to kill all life stages. Any spilled food materials should be cleaned up in the kitchen, pantry and dried food storage areas. Open dried food should be stored in airtight metal, glass or plastic containers. If adult beetles have been spotted, a residual insecticide treatment to food storage surfaces can be considered (with a product labelled for such use) and cigarette beetle traps could be used for ongoing monitoring.

In the commercial situation, cigarette beetles are a frequent pest in a range of businesses that handle flour and cereal products. If a large-scale infestation is present, the disposal of infested material will be necessary in many cases.

Fumigation can be considered in certain circumstances. Spraying of food storage surfaces, cracks and crevices will target adult beetles not inside the food substrate.

 

Preventing a cigarette beetle problem

Most cigarette beetle infestations are introduced via incoming food materials, so inspecting any dried food is necessary to prevent an infestation. Cigarette beetles are good flyers, so if there is an infestation nearby (at a neighbour’s house or nearby business), they could fly in from surrounding areas, especially in warmer climates.

The use of cigarette beetle traps is a good idea, especially in commercial situations. These are only really a monitoring tool (not a control method) as they only attract the male beetles.

Storage of dried food materials in suitable sealed containers will prevent infestation from outside and clearing up food spills will remove any uncontrolled food sources.

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