What You Can Do

Check fruit during picking or while selecting it at the store. In the orchard, pick up any fruit that has fallen from the trees. If fruit is set aside for drying or canning, store it in sealed containers.

Appearance

• Size: Adult dried fruit beetles are small (3 mm long).
• Body: They have oval shaped bodies with short wings that keep part of their abdomen exposed.
• Color: These beetles are black with two amber colored spots on their wing covers. Their legs and antennae are often reddish or amber in color.

Behavior & Diet

Dried fruit beetles are stored product pests that are from the Nitidulidae family. They are also called “sap beetles” because of their attraction to plant juices. There are other sap beetles, including:

• Corn sap beetles
• Pineapple beetles
• Yellow-brown sap beetles

Dried fruit beetles attack fresh, ripened fruit and dried fruit before it can be packaged and stored including:

• Apricots
• Bananas
• Biscuits
• Bread
• Grains
• Nuts
• Peaches
• Spices

Life Cycle

In an 80 degree environment, the life cycle of dried fruit beetles (from egg to mature adult) takes about 16 days. It is possible for these insects to have several generations per year.

Adults deposit eggs on fruit in trees or during harvest. When the larvae hatch, they burrow into the fruit.