flour beetle

American  

noun

1. any of several brown darkling beetles, especially of the genus Tribolium, that infest, breed in, feed on, and often pollute flour, stored grain, and other stored produce.

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Etymology

Origin of flour beetle

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

Recently, researchers from Okayama University, Japan, investigated how pheromones, important chemical signals that affect foraging and reproduction, might influence death-feigning behavior in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum.

From Science Daily • Oct. 2, 2023

The EU already allowed migratory locusts and flour beetle larvae as a food additive, dpa reported.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 2, 2023

He and his colleagues tested this idea in the red flour beetle, a 3-millimeter-long insect pest found in flour and grains and sometimes used in laboratory studies.

From Science Magazine • Sep. 22, 2011