Bug FAQTobacco Beetle
Lasioderma serricorne · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Anobiidae
Also called: Cigarette Beetle, cigar beetle
Source: Wikipedia
The tobacco beetle is a tiny, dark brown beetle about 2 to 3 mm long that lives wherever dried tobacco or other dry goods are stored. It feeds on a range of stored commodities such as spices, seeds, rice, cereals and especially dried tobacco.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
It can be told apart from the common furniture beetle by its flatter thorax and from the drugstore beetle by its uniformly serrated antennae without a clubbed tip.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults measure between 2 and 3 mm in length.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
The species is found in pan-tropical regions and wherever dried tobacco is stored.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
It primarily eats stored commodities such as spices, seeds, rice, cereals and especially dried tobacco leaves.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Its natural range is pan-tropical.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 26 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Kentucky, Florida, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Texas, Hawaii, North Carolina.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
How can I tell a tobacco beetle apart from similar beetles?
Look for a flatter thorax compared with the common furniture beetle and uniformly serrated antennae without a clubbed tip, unlike the drugstore beetle.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Anobiidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasioderma_serricorne
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.