Indian Meal Moth Larva

Natural Habitat

Indoors, especially in kitchens, pantries, and food processing plants where dry stored goods are kept.

Diet & Feeding

Dried foodstuffs including flour, cereal, nuts, seeds, chocolate, dried fruit, and pet food.

Behavior Patterns

Larvae produce silk webbing as they feed, which often clumps food particles together. They are highly mobile and may crawl away from the food source to pupate in crevices or at the wall-ceiling junction.

Risks & Benefits

Primarily a household pest that causes significant economic loss through food contamination. They pose no direct health risk to humans but infested food should be discarded.

Identified on: 1/15/2026