Tenebroides mauritanicus

Tenebroides mauritanicus, commonly known as the cadelle, is a species of beetle in the family Trogossitidae. It is a common cosmopolitan pest in storehouses and granaries.

Taxonomy and nomenclature

Tenebroides mauritanicus was first described in 1758 by Linnaeus in his 10th edition of Systema Naturae, who named it Tenebrio mauritanicus and classified it with the mealworms. A few decades later in 1790, the French entomologist Guillaume-Antoine Olivier proposed for it the generic name of Trogossite. For many years thereafter, the beetle was known as Trogosita mauritanica and was included in the family of beetles known as the Trogositidae.

In 1783, a specimen described under the name of Tenebroides complantus was recognised as Linnaeus’s original specimen of Tenebrio mauritanicus, leading to the proposal of the current name of Tenebroides mauritanicus.

The widely accepted common name cadelle comes from the French vernacular, and in its modern meaning refers to both adults and larvae.

The specific epithet mauritanicus means Mauritanian, in reference to the species’ supposed African origin.

The larvae were nicknamed "bargemen" by sailors because they often infested ships' biscuits and were noticed when they crawled out of the biscuits and onto the "barge", a small tub used to hold biscuits on the mess table.

Distribution and habitat

Having probably originated in North Africa, the cadelle has now spread through human agency to most other parts of the world in exported grain products and dunnage.