Pests in grain but is it a boy and a girl?

[brianholland]

A gamekeeper friend showed me a full bucket of grain in which there were hundreds of these tiny insects, I guess no more than an eigth of an inch long.

They looked like weevils but there were two distinct types as I hope you can see from this very poor photograph that my wife Margaret took this afternoon.

Can anyone please identify what each is ?

Thank you,

Brian Holland.

[Matt Smith]

The one on the left is a weevil of some sort, several species are pests of stored grain. The one on the right looks like the Saw-toothed Grain beetle, another well known granary pest.

[Klaas Reißmann]

Hi Brian,

the left one is a Weevil of the genus Sitophilus. I can't tell by this picture if S. granarius oder S. oryzae. The right, smaler one, is of the family of Laemophloeidae. I think genus Cryptolestes but I can't tell by this picture, too.

Both are known as pests in grains. Whereas Sitophilus needs undamaged grain, the Cryptolestes appear when the grain is more or less damp and mould is growing. So Cryptolestes appears after Sitophilus and humidity did the first work. The grains in which Cryptolestes appears are absolutely for no human use. The grains in which Sitophilus appears are unsavoury but no health risk.

Regards
Klaas

[brianholland]

Originally Posted by Klaas Reißmann

Hi Brian,

the left one is a Weevil of the genus Sitophilus. I can't tell by this picture if S. granarius oder S. oryzae. The right, smaler one, is of the family of Laemophloeidae. I think genus Cryptolestes but I can't tell by this picture, too.

Both are known as pests in grains. Whereas Sitophilus needs undamaged grain, the Cryptolestes appear when the grain is more or less damp and mould is growing. So Cryptolestes appears after Sitophilus and humidity did the first work. The grains in which Cryptolestes appears are absolutely for no human use. The grains in which Sitophilus appears are unsavoury but no health risk.

Regards
Klaas

Thank you for such a full and helpful reply.

I have never been disappointed by forum responses and yours in no exception.

Would have liked better images but then my wife is a novice with the camera and we are in our seventies.

Thank you again,

Brian.

[Klaas Reißmann]

Hi Brian,

the bad quality of the pictures doesn't matter. Most of the grain pests are more or less common and the way to fight them is all the same. So there is no stringend need to find out which species it is exactly.

Regards
Klaas

[brianholland]

Originally Posted by Klaas Reißmann

Hi Brian,

the bad quality of the pictures doesn't matter. Most of the grain pests are more or less common and the way to fight them is all the same. So there is no stringend need to find out which species it is exactly.

Regards
Klaas

Thanks Klaas for your observations .

As for poor quality of pics my wife is after all a novice in her seventies but she and I do enjoy the challenges of wildlife photography and if this site allow I am attaching a link to my wife's pics hopefully showing she can and does take slightly better pics.

The World's Best Photos by Margaret the Novice - Flickr Hive Mind

Regards and thanks again,

Brian..

[Klaas Reißmann]

Hi Brian (and novice-wife)

I took a look at your pictures and must say "very nice".

I'm not quiet sure, but there seem to be some beetles without a name. Some others are with a wrong name (for example your lesser stag beetle (Dorcus parallelepipedus) is the stag beetle, female (Lucanus cervus)).

if you post the pictures in the forum I will do my very best to identificate them. I don't want to flood the forum with links for determination.

Regards
Klaas

[brianholland]

Originally Posted by Klaas Reißmann

Hi Brian (and novice-wife)

I took a look at your pictures and must say "very nice".

I'm not quiet sure, but there seem to be some beetles without a name. Some others are with a wrong name (for example your lesser stag beetle (Dorcus parallelepipedus) is the stag beetle, female (Lucanus cervus)).

if you post the pictures in the forum I will do my very best to identificate them. I don't want to flood the forum with links for determination.

Regards
Klaas

Hi KLaas, Thank you for your very kijnd comments and to folow up on your suggestion here are a couple of shots of what i thought was a lesser stag beetle but would be glad of comments please.

Damn cannot add the images so wil have to create another thread. I do struggle with WAB but it is so helpful so I persisit.

Regards,

Brian.