Red flour beetles have been known to readily infest wheat flour but their likelihood to choose other types of flours is unknown. Red flour beetles will lay eggs in many types of flours but their choice to infest low- and no-gluten flours remains to be tested. Here we test a panel of 14 different commercially available flours in three different choice assays. We find that the beetles lay similar amounts of eggs in buckwheat, teff, millet, rice, and rye flours but that they show significant declines in preference for sorghum, potato, quinoa, cassava, oat, amaranth, garbanzo, spelt, and corn flours. By using three different assays - a wind tunnel, a large arena, and a small arena - we can further parse out differences in whether volatiles or texture of the flour may play a bigger role in choosing these flours to lay their eggs. The number of eggs laid in each of these 14 flours, plus a wheat control, is reported for both the large and small arenas and preference or movement toward the flour source is reported for a wind tunnel assay.
OwnerUnited States Department of Agriculture - view all
Update frequencyunknown
Last updated10 months ago
Format
OverviewNP304behaviorflourglutenovipositionpreferencesred flour beetlestored grainwind tunnel
Additional Information
KeyValue
dcat_modified2023-01-30
dcat_publisher_nameAgricultural Research Service
guid02a4175c-8694-414e-b0dd-d7c3ee307212
language
harvest_object_id40e17930-92b6-4677-be82-36c92fdbf5b4
harvest_source_id2c0b1e04-ba48-4488-9de5-0dab41f9913f
harvest_source_titleUSDA Open Data Catalog