Moths

The Angoumois grain moth is so named because it was first reported destroying grain in this French province.  It is considered second only to granary and rice weevils as a pest of stored grain.

Adults with wingspread are about 1/2-5/8" long.  Their color is buff to pale yellowish brown.  Hind wings abruptly narrowed at tip towards front wing and and fringed with hair like scales, about as long as wing is wide.

Mature larva up to 1/4" long.  They are colored white with yellowish head and dark reddish-brown mouth parts. 

The female lays an average of 40 white eggs on or near grain.  These turn red with age and hatch in 4-8 days.

Adults cause no damage.  The larva require a whole kernel or caked material for development.  This pest is active at low temperatures and can cause considerable damage during the winter months.  Infested grain has a sickening smell and taste which makes it unpalatable.  The moths leave a lot of debris on top of infested grain.

Adults are attracted to light.  They prefer to attack barley, rye, corn, oats, rice and various seeds. It attacks both grains in the field and in storage, but only whole kernels.  It prefers damp grain as opposed to old dry grain.

The Indianmeal moth was given its common name by an early entomologist who found it feeding on cornmeal.  It is probably the most important and most commonly encountered pest of stored products found in the home and in the grocery stores in the United States.

Adults with wingspread are about 5/8-3/4" long.  Wing pale gray but front wing with outer 2/3's reddish brown with coppery luster.

Mature larva usually about 1/2" long.  Usually dirty white but color may vary to a greenish or pinkish or brownish hue depending on its food, with head and shield yellowish brown to reddish brown.

The female lays 100-400 eggs, on the larva food material during a period of 1-18 days.  Upon hatching the larva establishes itself in a crevice of the food material.  It feeds in or near a tunnelike case it has webbed together of frass and silk. 

Adults cause no damage.  The larvae are surface feeders and generally produce a lot of webbing throughout the infested part of materials.  They are generally feeders and attack grain and grain products, a wide variety of dried fruits, seeds, nuts, graham crackers, powdered milk, biscuits, chocolate, candies, dried red peppers, dry dog food, and bird seed.  They are very destructive wherever dried fruits are stored.  Preferred are coarser grades of flour such as whole wheat, graham flour, and cornmeal but they can breed in shelled or ear corn.

Adults are attracted to light.  When the moths are flying they are often mistaken for Clothes moths.

Moth fly get the common name from their fuzzy appearance, their bodies and wings being very hairy.  The drain/filter/sewage fly common names are from places or situations which represent typical breeding and developmental sites.  Although usually thought of as a nuisance pests, there have been cases where inhalation of their body parts caused bronchial asthma.

Adults are about 1/16-1/4" long.  They are delicate and fuzzy.  They are colored yellowish to brownish black, depending on the species.  Antennae 12-16 segmented.

Mature larvae are about 1/8-3/8" long.  They are eyeless and legless.  Sub cylindrical in form, with head narrow than the body.  They are pale with head, dorsal bands and apical breathing tube dark.

Adult females can lay 30-100 eggs in irregular masses on the surface of the gelatinous film which covers the filter stones of sewage treatment plants or which the water free portions of drain pipes.  The larvae feed on algae, bacteria, fungi, microscopic animals and sludge of this film.

Because of their small size moth flies are able to penetrate ordinary screens.  Moth flies are weak fliers, so indoors they are usually seen crawling on walls or other surfaces.  When they do fly, it is only for short distances of a few feet and their flight is in characteristic short jerky lines.  During the day, they typically rest on vertical surfaces near drain openings indoors and in shaded areas outside.   Even though they are weak fliers they can be carried distances of 300 feet or more by the wind.

Webbing clothes moth gets its common name from the larval produced silk webbing which is characteristically covers over the area upon which the larva is  feeding. 

Adults measure about 1/2" from wing tip to wing tip.  Both wings are long and narrow.  Wings and body uniformly buff/golden color except for tuff of reddish setae on top of head. 

There are silken tubes in the hidden portions of clothes, such as under collars, or silken mats or patches on material.  Both the tubes and mats have fibers and feces incorporated into them.  Surface grazing of fibers and/or holes in materials are present.  In fur, the hairs are clipped at their base causing loose fur and exposed hide.

On the day they emerge from their cocoon, adults females can male and lay eggs.  Each female lays an average of 40-50 eggs either singly or in small great over a 2-3 weeks period, and glues them to material.

Webbing Clothes moth larvae attack synthetic fibers only when they are interwoven with natural animal fiber material or soiled.  They do not attack material of vegetable origin.  They feed on keratin-containing material such as wool, hair, fur, etc.  They have been found infesting beef meal, fish meal, pemmican casein, and milk products in addition to furs, woolens etc.  Outdoors clothes moths have been found in the nests of birds and insects.

The adults do not feed.  They shun light.  The females are poor fliers but are fast on their legs and run when disturbed, they quickly seek a secluded place such as in fabric folds, etc.

(Insect Information excerpted from the NPCA Field Guide to Structural Pests)