Darkling beetle

Alphitophagus bifasciatus · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Tenebrionidae

Also called: Two-banded Flour Beetle, Two-banded Fungus Beetle, waste grain beetle

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Darkling beetle
Photo: Udo Schmidt, CC BY-SA

Alphitophagus bifasciatus occurs in many regions across the globe. It lives in a wide range of habitats worldwide. Its distribution is almost worldwide, making it nearly cosmopolitan.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

This species is found in almost all parts of the world.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

It inhabits many different environments around the globe.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Its range is nearly cosmopolitan, covering most continents.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 26 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Ohio, Indiana, Colorado, California, Iowa, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Kansas.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Darkling beetle photo 2
Photo: Elliott Gordon, CC BY
Darkling beetle photo 3
Photo: Elliott Gordon, CC BY
Darkling beetle photo 4
Photo: solidstate, CC BY
Darkling beetle photo 5
Photo: Senna Bryce Robeson, CC BY

Same family (Tenebrionidae)

Red Flour BeetleRed Flour BeetleTribolium castaneumCan damage your homeConfused Flour BeetleConfused Flour BeetleTribolium confusumCan damage your homeRough-haired Lagria BeetleRough-haired Lagria BeetleLagria hirtaObscure Darkling BeetleObscure Darkling BeetleEleodes obscuraYellow Mealworm BeetleYellow Mealworm BeetleTenebrio molitorCan damage your homeSulphur BeetleSulphur BeetleCteniopus sulphureus

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphitophagus_bifasciatus

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-26 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-26.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.