Cigarette Beetle Facts & Information

Adult cigarette beetles, Lasioderma serricorne (Coleoptera: Anobiidae), are quite small, measuring about 1/8 of an inch and are reddish brown. Their bodies have an oval-shaped and the head is often concealed by the pronotum – a rounded plate covering the head when the beetle is viewed from above. The elytra (hard wing coverings that make up the beetle’s “shell”) are covered with fine hairs. When disturbed, they often pull in their legs, tuck their head, and lay motionless. They prefer to reside in dark or dimly lit cracks, nooks, and crevices but become active and fly readily in bright, open areas in an attempt to find refuge. They are most active at dusk and will continue activity through the night. Adults do not feed but will drink liquids.

Cigarette beetles look almost identical to drugstore beetles but can be distinguished by two easily identifiable characters: the antennae of the cigarette beetle are serrated (like a series of teeth on a saw). It gets its species name, “serricorne,” from this feature. Serricorne is latin for “serrated antennae.” In comparison, the antennae of the drugstore beetle end in 3-segmented clubs. The other difference is that drugstore beetle elytra have rows of pits giving them a striated (lined) appearance while those of the cigarette beetle are smooth with fine hairs.

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