Indian meal moth larva

Worldwide in human structures, particularly pantries, kitchens, and food processing facilities where grain and dry goods are stored.

Stored dry food products including cereals, flour, cornmeal, crackers, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, chocolate, and pet food.

Larvae are active crawlers that spin silken threads as they move through food, often leaving webbing and fecal pellets (frass). They typically crawl away from the food source to pupate in crevices or at the wall-ceiling junction.

They are major economic pests of stored food products. While they do not transmit diseases or bite, they cause significant food waste through contamination with webbing and waste products. They offer no notable benefits to the human ecosystem.