Mediterranean flour moth

Ephestia kuehniella

1. Identification

• Common name: Mediterranean flour moth
• Scientific name: Ephestia kuehniella Zeller
• Order: Lepidoptera
• Family: Pyralidae

2. Pest description

• Caterpillars whitish to pinkish in colour, with a brown head; reaching about 12–15 mm.
• Adults with greyish forewings with dark spots; lighter and fringed hindwings.
• Cosmopolitan species, one of the main pests of stored products.
• Caterpillars feed on flours, cereals, animal feed, seeds and various dry products.
• They produce abundant webbing that binds food particles together, contaminating the products.

3. Main hosts

• Flours and cereals.
• Rice, maize, wheat, oats.
• Various animal feed and seeds.
• Dry food products, packaged or in bulk.
• By-products of milling and storage.

4. Symptoms and damage

• Presence of webbing and clumps of agglutinated food.
• Contamination by excrement and insect fragments.
• Perforations in cardboard or thin plastic packaging.
• Alteration of the odour and quality of the products.
• Significant economic losses in mills, warehouses and food industries.

5. Biological cycle

• Eggs laid directly on the food or nearby.
• Caterpillars develop inside or on the surface of the stored products.
• Pupation occurs in cracks, walls, shelves or in the food itself.
• Adults emerge and quickly restart the cycle.
• Several generations per year, favoured by high temperatures and the availability of food.

6. Monitoring

• Pheromone traps for the capture of males.
• Visual inspection of stored foods and packaging.
• Checking for webbing, clumps and caterpillar movement.
• Regular monitoring in mills, warehouses and storage areas.

7. Management measures

• Cultural: rigorous cleaning of shelves and equipment; removal of infested products; storage in airtight containers.
• Preventive: inspection of products on entry; maintenance of good hygiene practices; elimination of sources of exposed food.
• Biological: use of specific organisms / parasitic insects in industrial contexts (where applicable).
• Integrated protection: use of pheromone traps; authorised treatments in structures when necessary; integration of cultural and preventive measures.

Bibliographic references

• EPPO Global Database – Ephestia kuehniella.
• CABI – Invasive Species Compendium – Ephestia kuehniella.
• Hill, D. S. (1990). Pests of Stored Products and Their Control. CRC Press.
• Hagstrum, D. W. et al. (2012). Atlas of Stored-Product Insects and Mites. AACC International.