Sitotroga cerealella

Description and life cycle

Small, yellowish or straw-colored moths, which are 9mm long and have a fringe along the posterior margin of their wings, can be observed flying around infested grain stores. Their presence is especially evident if ears or shelled grain are disturbed. The moths tend to lay clusters of scale-like eggs, which turn from white to red near hatching, between two close surfaces (between the kernel and reduced glumes at the base of the kernel). The young larvae are tiny and white. In their last larval instar, the larvae prepare a round exit hole for the moth, leaving the outer seed wall (pericarp) only partially cut as a flap over the hole.