Biology:
The female lays 45-285 white shiny eggs singly or in small clusters in crevices in the food material over a 2-5 month period. The life cycle from egg to adult typically requires30-50 days. The optimal development conditions are 30-35°C and 70+% humidity. There maybe as many as 6-7 generations per year but the number is greatly dependent on temperature. On average the adults live 6-10 months but may live longer then 3 years.Complete metamorphosis.

Habits:
The Sawtoothed grain beetle does considerable damage to grains but it cannot attack sound kernels. Its flat body allows access through very small cracks and into imperfectly sealed packages. Adults are not known to fly and are not attracted to light. It attacks a wide variety of foodstuffs, which include cereals, bread, breakfast foods, dried fruits, nuts, sugar, chocolate, dried meats, drugs, tobacco and many other stuffs.

Reasons for Control:
Prevention of damage and contamination, loss of goodwill, loss of quality and to comply with UK Legislation.