[NHCOLL-L:931] Re: Starch pellets

[Doug Yanega]

>About two weeks ago MICH received a parcel continaing specimens that we had
>loaned to a Brazilian herbarium.  When we opened the box, much of the space
>above the specimens was filled with turquoise-blue packing pellets.  The
>color attracted our attention but, upon closer inspection, so did the small,
>brown beetles that were crawling on them!  From the small blue fragments on
>top of the bundle of specimens, it was evident to me that some of the
>peanuts had been serving as food.

I ran into (perhaps) these same beetles in Brazil; they were small ovoid
anobiids, and I only discovered them *after* having shipped a few boxes out
using peanuts from the contaminated supply. Definitely something to watch
out for.

Peace,


Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology         Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
phone: (909) 787-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
           http://entmuseum9.ucr.edu/staff/yanega.html
  "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
        is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82