Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Cig­a­rette bee­tles are found world­wide, every­where that stored to­bacco is found. They thrive in tem­per­a­tures above 65 de­grees Fahren­heit. The bee­tle spread widely as it was trans­ported in pack­aged to­bacco or other pack­aged prod­ucts. It is be­lieved that the cig­a­rette bee­tle orig­i­nated in Egypt be­cause their car­casses have been found in Egypt­ian tombs. (Ash­worth, 1993; Ja­cobs, 1998; Lyon, 1991)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • introduced
• palearctic
  • introduced
• oriental
  • introduced
• ethiopian
  • native
• neotropical
  • introduced
• australian
  • introduced
• oceanic islands
  • introduced

• Other Geographic Terms
• cosmopolitan

Habi­tat

The habi­tat of cig­a­rette bee­tles is dif­fi­cult to de­fine be­cause they can be found any­where that there are stored food prod­ucts to eat. The only re­quire­ments that it needs for life are warm tem­per­a­tures and some hu­mid­ity. El­e­va­tion and prox­im­ity to water are ap­par­ently unim­por­tant to this species. (Ash­worth, 1993)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Other Habitat Features
• urban
• suburban
• agricultural

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Adult cig­a­rette bee­tles are small, red­dish-yel­low or brown­ish-red oval shaped bee­tles. They ap­pear hunched when viewed from the side due to the angle of their head, which is bent down­wards al­most per­pen­dic­u­lar to the tho­rax. Their wing cov­ers are smooth and un­s­tri­ated. Adult cig­a­rette bee­tles are often con­fused with drug­store bee­tles, which have stri­ated wing cov­ers and are longer and thin­ner than drug­store bee­tles. Cig­a­rette bee­tle lar­vae are off-white, grub-shaped, cov­ered with long yel­low­ish-brown hairs, and have three pairs of legs and a brown head. When fully grown, both adults and lar­vae are 2 to 3 mm long. Adults weigh 0.0016 to 0.0044 g. (Ja­cobs, 1998; Lyon, 1991)

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike

• Range mass

  0.0016 to 0.0044 g

  0.00 to 0.00 oz

• Range length

  2 to 3 mm

  0.08 to 0.12 in

De­vel­op­ment

Cig­a­rette bee­tles begin life as eggs laid di­rectly onto dried, stored foods. These eggs are pearly white and have many spines on the end from which the lar­vae emerge 6 to 8 days later. Lar­vae are creamy white in color and cov­ered in fine, light brown hairs. Lar­vae are mo­bile, bur­row­ing into loosely packed stored foods which they feed on until they are fully grown. The lar­vae then enter the pupal stage, build­ing a co­coon in which they un­dergo meta­mor­pho­sis. They emerge 4 to 12 days later as sex­u­ally ma­ture adults. The adult fe­males are able to oviposit after one day of emer­gence. This whole cycle is gen­er­ally com­pleted in 26 to 33 days. (Ash­worth, 1993)

• Development - Life Cycle
• metamorphosis

Re­pro­duc­tion

Cig­a­rette bee­tles are polyg­y­nan­drous or­gan­isms that reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity dur­ing the pupal stage of de­vel­op­ment. In 10 to 12 hours after a fe­male cig­a­rette bee­tle emerges from its co­coon, it be­gins pro­duc­ing sex pheromones from a spe­cial­ized pore on the sec­ond seg­ment on its ab­domen. This pheromone is highly at­trac­tive to male cig­a­rette bee­tles. When a male bee­tle nears the source of the pheromones, is low­ers its head, vi­brates its an­ten­nae, and walks cir­cles around the source. The male cig­a­rette bee­tle then touches his an­ten­nae to the dor­sal sur­face of the fe­male and grasps her ely­tra. He then in­serts his aedea­gus (male re­pro­duc­tive organ) into the fe­male's vagina. Once the bee­tles are con­nected, they re­main con­nected, "end-to-end" po­si­tion for 53 to 67 min­utes to allow for sperm trans­fer. Length of cop­u­la­tion pe­riod is un­af­fected by tem­per­a­ture. Fe­males nor­mally mate with two males, whereas males nor­mally mate at least 6 times. (Ash­worth, 1993; Pa­padopoulou, 2006a)

• Mating System
• polygynandrous (promiscuous)

Cig­a­rette bee­tles emerge from their co­coons, an av­er­age of 4 weeks after birth, as fully de­vel­oped, sex­u­ally ma­ture adults. A fe­male bee­tle is able to oviposit within one day of emer­gence. After fer­til­iza­tion, the fe­male bee­tle looks for dry pack­aged food ma­te­ri­als on which to oviposit. Fe­male bee­tles most often lay their eggs on food prod­ucts, which also pro­duce the high­est num­ber of suc­cess­ful off­spring. After the fe­male de­posits the eggs, she re­leases a pheromone that marks the spot so other bee­tles do not oviposit in the same place. Each fe­male pro­duces an av­er­age of 5.2 eggs which ges­tate for 6 to 8 days be­fore the lar­vae emerge. (Ash­worth, 1993; Hori, et al., 2011)

• Key Reproductive Features
• semelparous
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
  • internal
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  Female cigarette beetles mate twice and males mate more than 6 times within their short 2 to 7 week adult life.

• Breeding season

  Cigarette beetles mate year-round.

• Average eggs per season

  5.2

• Range gestation period

  6 to 8 days

• Average time to independence

  0 minutes

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  4 weeks

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  4 weeks

The fe­male cig­a­rette bee­tle yolks and pro­tects her eggs in­side her body until she lays them.

• Parental Investment
• female parental care
• pre-fertilization
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

The lifes­pan of cig­a­rette bee­tles in cap­tiv­ity is 26 days to 1 year, with an ex­pected lifes­pan of 44 days. The op­ti­mal con­di­tions for growth and de­vel­op­ment are be­tween 30 and 37 de­grees Cel­sius and 70 to 75% rel­a­tive hu­mid­ity. A con­stant tem­per­a­ture of greater than 40 de­grees Cel­sius or less than -18 de­grees Cel­sius is fatal to all stages of life and low hu­mid­ity sig­nif­i­cantly short­ens their lifes­pan. Lar­vae who eat more gen­er­ally live to be­come larger, longer-liv­ing adults. Bee­tles raised on wheat flour have the high­est body size and fe­cun­dity, lay­ing an av­er­age of 10 times more eggs than bee­tles liv­ing on cigar to­bacco. (Ash­worth, 1993; Collins and Cony­ers, 2010; Mahroof and Phillips, 2008)

• Range lifespan
  Status: captivity

  26 to 360 days

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  44 days

Be­hav­ior

Cig­a­rette bee­tles are ac­tive both day and night, but rarely ven­ture from their home in dried goods dur­ing the dry heat of the day. The adults are strong fliers and can fly to new food stores. In­di­vid­u­als can­not go too far be­cause adults only live 23 to 28 days. They are most ac­tive in tem­per­a­tures around 65 de­grees Fahren­heit. (Ash­worth, 1993; Lyon, 1991)

• Key Behaviors
• terricolous
• flies
• crepuscular
• motile
• sedentary
• colonial

Home Range

Cig­a­rette bee­tles rarely leave the food store that they were born in, but if the store is de­pleted, they can fly to a nearby food store and col­o­nize it. (Ash­worth, 1993)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Cig­a­rette bee­tles use their senses of touch, sight (min­i­mally), and chem­i­cal re­cep­tors to per­ceive their en­vi­ron­ment and com­mu­ni­cate with other bee­tles. The most com­mon form of com­mu­ni­ca­tion be­tween bee­tles is through the use of pheromones, which they use to at­tract mates and deter ovipo­si­tion near an ex­ist­ing ovipo­si­tion site. (Ash­worth, 1993)

• Communication Channels
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• pheromones

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• chemical

Food Habits

Cig­a­rette bee­tles are best known for their in­fes­ta­tions of dried to­bacco prod­ucts such as cig­a­rettes and cig­ars, how­ever, they eat many types of stored prod­ucts in­clud­ing raisins, figs, dates, gin­ger, pep­per, nut­meg, chili pow­der, curry pow­der, cayenne pep­per, pa­prika, yeast, drugs, legume seeds, bar­ley, corn­meal, flour, soy­bean meal, sun­flower meal, wheat, wheat bran, rice meal, beans, ce­re­als, fish meal, peanuts, dry yeast, dried flow­ers, leather, woolen cloth, bam­boo, and some­times, the re­mains of dead in­sects. (Ja­cobs, 1998; Lyon, 1991)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • folivore

• Animal Foods
• insects

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• seeds, grains, and nuts
• fruit
• flowers

Pre­da­tion

Cig­a­rette bee­tles are prey to many mites and bee­tles. Mite preda­tors in­clude Chor­to­glyphrrgs raci­i­ipes, Pedicu­loides uen­tri­co­sus, Seiu­lus, Ac­arop­sis docro, Ac­arop­sis sol­ers, Cheyle­tus erudirus, and Ty­roph­a­gus pu­tres­cen­tiae. They are also eaten by feather legged orb weavers (Uloborus genic­u­la­tus), red flour bee­tles (Tri­bolium cas­ta­neum), cadelle bee­tles (Tene­broides mau­ri­tan­i­cus), and clerid bee­tles (Thane­ro­clerus bu­queti). (Ash­worth, 1993; Pa­padopoulou, 2006b)

• Known Predators

  • mites (Pediculoides uentricosus)
  • mites (Seiulus)
  • mites (Acaropsis docro)
  • mites (Acaropsis solers)
  • mites (Cheyletus erudirus)
  • mites (Tyrophagus putrescentiae)
  • mites (Chortoglyphrrgs raciiipes)
  • feather legged orb weavers (Uloborus geniculatus)
  • red flour beetles (Tribolium castaneum)
  • cadelle beetles (Tenebroides mauritanicus)
  • clerid beetles (Thaneroclerus buqueti)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Cig­a­rette bee­tles feed solely on stored plant ma­te­r­ial and some car­casses of other in­sects found within their food source. There are some in­sects that prey on cig­a­rette bee­tles like wasps (Anisoptero­ma­lus ca­lan­drae) and mites, (Moniezella an­gusta) which feed on the lar­vae of the cig­a­rette bee­tle. If not liv­ing within human food stores, cig­a­rette bee­tles may live in and eat dead plant mat­ter. (Ash­worth, 1993; Ja­cobs, 1998)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

There are no known pos­i­tive ef­fects of La­sio­derma ser­ri­corne on hu­mans.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Cig­a­rette bee­tles feed on stored food prod­ucts, con­t­a­m­i­nat­ing them with ex­cre­ment and dead bod­ies which can de­stroy en­tire stores of food. In 1950 and 1968, it is es­ti­mated that 0.7% of stored, un­processed to­bacco was de­stroyed by cig­a­rette bee­tles in the U.S. Re­cently, cig­a­rette bee­tles have begun in­fest­ing stored mu­seum col­lec­tions, using a newly de­vel­oped biodegrad­able pack­ing peanut as its food source. (Ash­worth, 1993)

• Negative Impacts
• crop pest

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Cig­a­rette bee­tles are not threat­ened or en­dan­gered, and re­searchers ac­tu­ally study how to de­crease their pop­u­la­tion as they are pests to hu­mans. This is be­cause the cig­a­rette bee­tle causes dam­age to stored food prod­ucts through­out the world.

• IUCN Red List

  No special status

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Other Com­ments

Polypropy­lene pack­ag­ing is most ef­fec­tive in stop­ping cig­a­rette bee­tle in­fes­ta­tions. Also, in­creases in thick­ness of the pack­ag­ing de­creases pest per­me­abil­ity in all pack­ag­ing ma­te­ri­als. (Al­lah­vaisi, et al., 2009)

Con­trib­u­tors

Nicholas Brigham (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor, Cather­ine Kent (ed­i­tor), Spe­cial Pro­jects.

Ref­er­ences

Aiello, A., E. Dominguez Nunez, H. Stock­well. 2010. NOTH­ING IS PER­FECT: BIODEGRAD­ABLE PACK­ING MA­TE­R­IAL AS FOOD AND TRANS­PORTA­TION FOR A MU­SEUM PEST, LA­SIO­DERMA SER­RI­CORNE (F.) (COLEOPTERA: ANOBI­IDAE). COLEOPTER­ISTS BUL­LETIN, 64/3: 256-257.

Al­lah­vaisi, S., A. Pour­mirza, M. Sa­far­al­izade. 2009. Pack­ag­ing of Agri­cul­tural Prod­ucts for Pre­vent­ing To­bacco Bee­tles Con­t­a­m­i­na­tions. NO­TU­LAE BOTAN­I­CAE HORTI AGRO­B­OT­ANICI CLUJ-NAPOCA, 37/2: 218-222.

Ash­worth, J. 1993. THE BI­OL­OGY OF LA­SIO­DERMA-SER­RI­CORNE. JOUR­NAL OF STORED PROD­UCTS RE­SEARCH, 29/4: 291-303.

Collins, D., S. Cony­ers. 2010. The ef­fect of sub-zero tem­per­a­tures on dif­fer­ent lifestages of La­sio­derma ser­ri­corne (F.) and Eph­es­tia elutella (Hub­ner). JOUR­NAL OF STORED PROD­UCTS RE­SEARCH, 46/4: 234-241.

Hori, M., M. Miwa, H. Izawa. 2011. Host suit­abil­ity of var­i­ous stored food prod­ucts for the cig­a­rette bee­tle, La­sio­derma ser­ri­corne (Coleoptera: Anobi­idae). AP­PLIED EN­TO­MOL­OGY AND ZO­OL­OGY, 46/4: 463-469.

Ja­cobs, S. 1998. "Cig­a­rette Bee­tle" (On-line). ento.​psu.​edu. Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 02, 2012 at http://​ento.​psu.​edu/​extension/​factsheets/​cigarette-beetle.

Lyon, W. 1991. "Cig­a­rette and Drug­store Bee­tles" (On-line). ohioonline.​osu.​edu. Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 02, 2012 at http://​ohioline.​osu.​edu/​hyg-fact/​2000/​2083.​html.

Mahroof, R., T. Phillips. 2008. Life his­tory pa­ra­me­ters of La­sio­derma ser­ri­corne (F.) as in­flu­enced by food sources. JOUR­NAL OF STORED PROD­UCTS RE­SEARCH, 44/3: 219-226.

Pa­padopoulou, S. 2006. Ty­roph­a­gus pu­tres­cen­tiae (Schrank) (Astig­mata : Acari­dae) as a new preda­tor of La­sio­derma ser­ri­corne (F.) (Coleoptera : Anobi­idae) in to­bacco stores in Greece. JOUR­NAL OF STORED PROD­UCTS RE­SEARCH, 42/3: 391-394.

Pa­padopoulou, S. 2006. Ob­ser­va­tions on the mat­ing be­hav­ior of La­sio­derma ser­ri­corne (F.) adults and ex­per­i­ments on their nu­tri­tional re­quire­ments in dried to­bacco. COLEOPTER­ISTS BUL­LETIN, 60/4: 291-296.