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photo gallery of the beetle fauna of Germany

The sawtoothed grain beetle Oryzaephilus surinamensis (family Silvanidae) originates from the tropical region, similar to its sister species, the merchant grain beetle Oryzaephilus mercator. Both are distributed throughout the world and regularly transported with unprocessed agricultural commodities. According to their tropical origin, the species can survive the Central European winter only synanthropically in heated buildings, or in grain stocks, that develop sufficient heat due to decomposition processes. The 2.5 to 3.5 mm large species can damage a large number of foodstuffs, e.g. grains, flour, bakery products, dried fruit, nuts and others. Since they feed mostly on small substrate crumbs, they do not produce a typical pattern of damage. The beetles can reach an unusually high age of up to three years.