[Nhcoll-l] Hide beetles

Tue Aug 3 22:05:31 EDT 2021

Thanks so very much to everyone who responded to this email thread! I have learned a lot, and I really appreciate all of your collective knowledge and wisdom. It’s great how much variability there is, and cool that there is potential for colonies to be (well monitored and contained) near skins. I have seen the public display at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, Ben, it is super cool. Though it still makes me squirm a bit – what if!?

We will continue to have our colony separate from our collections building, but I love all the ideas for increased biosecurity in our dermestid colony. I think that would go a long way to feeling like I could go back to work after going into the colony! Thanks again to all of you.

Cheers,

Tonya

From: Elizabeth Wommack <ewommack at uwyo.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, 3 August 2021 6:22 AM
To: Garner, Heath <Heath.Garner at ttu.edu>
Cc: Tocci, Genevieve Elizabeth <glewis-g at oeb.harvard.edu>; Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace) <Tonya.Haff at csiro.au>; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Hide beetles

Hi Tonya,

Fun topic!
The UWYMV has really low humidity, but our colonies do fine in the dry high elevation. We do have them on a really strict watering schedule.
Our beetles came from the MVZ colonies originally, which is not as humid as the east coast of NAmerica, but is more humid than Wyoming. I did watch the beetles fly around the MVZ lab, especially in the summer time. The colonies there are in the same lab as the specimen preparation, and escaped beetles would eat the drying skins if we did not watch them really closely.

I've never had my beetles in Wyoming attempt to fly out of the colony. I watched a couple last summer take off in the colony, but so far we've been lucky. I wondered if it might be related to temperature and light cycle. We did move our colonies completely off site several years ago because of space issues. All material is frozen a minimum of 2 weeks before I bring it back to the museum.

cheers,
Beth Wommack

On Mon, Aug 2, 2021 at 9:42 AM Garner, Heath <Heath.Garner at ttu.edu<mailto:Heath.Garner at ttu.edu>> wrote:
◆ This message was sent from a non-UWYO address. Please exercise caution when clicking links or opening attachments from external sources.

We use a heat strip around the doorframe of our dermestid colony room. It was adapted and published as a 2-page write up in 1992 by our then collection manager Stephen L. Williams.

https://stashc.com/the-publication/room/heat-panels-for-controlling-crawling-insects-in-storage-areas-2/

Heath J. Garner

Curator of Collections

Museum of Texas Tech University

Natural Science Research Laboratory

3301 4th Street

Lubbock, TX 79415

(806) 742-2486

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>> On Behalf Of Tocci, Genevieve Elizabeth
Sent: Monday, August 02, 2021 10:16 AM
To: Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace) <Tonya.Haff at csiro.au>
Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Hide beetles

Tonya,

It has not come up on the thread here yet, but I saw a talk about installing heat strip around a doorway as an extra containment measure. It was at one of the Museum Pests working group meetings, and I am not sure it has been published anywhere. If you email the pestlist<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmuseumpests.net%2Fjoin-the-pestlist%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cheath.garner%40ttu.edu%7C7d39d1a581fb4b15050908d955c87961%7C178a51bf8b2049ffb65556245d5c173c%7C0%7C1%7C637635141786716651%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=Y5DZnn%2BNI9ZtE9UXJ1aI4Gp5D4kHquAvYYgyPFsJb78%3D&reserved=0> you may get some additional responses, or information about the heat strip specifically. It was pretty interesting.

Best of luck
Genevieve

=================================================
Genevieve E. Tocci (she, her, hers)
Senior Curatorial Technician
Harvard University Herbaria
22 Divinity Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138  U.S.A.
Phone: 617-495-1057  Fax: 617-495-9484
glewis-g at oeb.harvard.edu<mailto:glewis-g at oeb.harvard.edu>

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>> On Behalf Of Benjamin Hess
Sent: Monday, August 2, 2021 10:49 AM
To: Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace) <Tonya.Haff at csiro.au<mailto:Tonya.Haff at csiro.au>>
Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Hide beetles

Tonya,

I managed dermestid colonies in North Carolina both in a museum and in buildings outside the museum. Temperature and humidity within the museum were fairly stable, but there were high fluctuations in the buildings outside the museum. Outside the museum, we maintained dermestids at temperatures between 7 - 43 deg C (45 - 110 deg F) and a relative humidity of 5 - 90% RH. When the humidity spiked in late summer to early fall, we added moisture by only wetting paper towels in a tray not touching the specimens or substrate.

I experienced mold outbreaks with high humidity, and this was a time when I saw adult dermestid beetles fly. I have also witnessed flying adults within the museum when dermestids within a single tank were overpopulated. Dermestid tanks with flying adults were never opened in the museum until no flying beetles were present. Both flying adults and escaping dermestids can be managed with container/building modifications and protocols when adding/removing specimens.

Skeletons coming out of dermestids were frozen for one week at the minimum. Each skeleton was then soaked in 70% ethanol, rinsed with water, dried, and then frozen one more time before going to the collections. This ensured that all life stages of dermestids did not survive before going to the collection. Below are a few comparisons we experienced.

Within the Museum Dermestid Colony:

  *   Dermestid tanks visible to public (in museum, but away from collections)
  *   Temperature and humidity controlled
  *   Ventilation through fume hood exhaust
  *   Ventilation caused low humidity - sprayed water usually daily
  *   Usually daily monitoring
  *   Double bagged skeletons out of dermestids - frozen before moving specimens
Building Outside Museum Dermestid Colony

  *   Dermestid tanks behind the scenes
  *   Temperature and humidity always fluctuating
  *   Ventilation through exhaust fan
  *   Winter was most productive (lower humidity, heated space, spray more water, FEW other insects)
  *   Usually weekly or bi-weekly monitoring
  *   Issues with spiders, spider mites, red legged ham beetles, flies; and humidity issues with mold
  *   Freezer in building outside of museum and collections
  *   Some specimen transportation issues
I am happy to talk with you more if you want more details.

Sincerely,

Ben

On Fri, Jul 30, 2021 at 4:42 PM Anderson, Gretchen <AndersonG at carnegiemnh.org<mailto:AndersonG at carnegiemnh.org>> wrote:
Hi Tonya,

When I first took the position of Conservator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, I interviewed our collection manager of the bird collection, who managed our dermestid colony.  Steve provided some of the following info, that might help.

D. maculatus, like so many other species, thrive under specific environmental conditions.
Temperature:  72 to 75 deg F are ideal, but they can survive between 65 – 90 deg F.  A large colony (e.g. 1 quart of beetles per a 5 gallon aquarium) will generate heat.
Relative humidity: They like it humid  - I do not have the specifics preferences.
Steve also had specifics on feeding  and management of the colony to keep it healthy.  Some interesting observations he made include: they prefer dried meat (although they will eat fresh, also fresh meat can develop mold or rot); manage the food so that there is little left over; remove excess casts skins to help control mites.

As for location for the colony – it is safest to have it in a separate building – if that is a possibility.  Freeze the cleaned specimens before you bring them into the museum to reduce the likelihood of carrying the dermestids into collections that could be damaged.  That said, if there is no possibility of an external facility for the colony, you can have one in the building, even close to the collection if the colony is well managed and monitored.  There are a number of ways to do this.  At the Science Museum of Minnesota – we had a colony that was not only adjacent to the biology lab, but visible to the public.  We took the following precautions: The room had a small, dedicated HVAC (I have seen dermestids live inside of vents and move from space to space through the ducts).  The room was incredibly well sealed, with gasketing and door sweeps around the one door.  The window into the gallery was very well sealed.  There were screens over the HVAC Vent.  The room contained shelving that was easily cleaned.  The colony was in aquariums with screen covers that were well sealed.  There was a chest freezer for both storage of specimens to be cleaned and pest control.  We kept sticky traps around the aquarium and used tacky floor pads.  Also, the room was kept very clean.  Please let me know if you want to talk more off list.

Gretchen
Gretchen Anderson
Conservator
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
5800 Baum Blvd.
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Andersong at CarnegieMNH.org<mailto:Andersong at CarnegieMNH.org>
(412)665-2607

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>> On Behalf Of Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace)
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2021 12:36 AM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Hide beetles

Hello all,

I was wondering if any of you could provide insight into Dermestes maculatus, the hide beetle. I just read a paper (Strang & Jacobs 2019) stating that D. maculatus was not able to live outside the colony (at the Smithsonian) due to ‘humidity and other requirements’, but sadly there wasn’t a citation. Likewise, I have seen dermestid colonies housed inside collection buildings (such as at the Field Museum), apparently with no threat to the skin collections also housed nearby. I have not been able to pin point down why hide beetles wouldn’t be a threat to museum specimens, but I would love to hear any experiences with them or thoughts on what their infestation risk is to collections. They certainly can eat a lot when they get going! I would love it if I didn’t have to feel a slight sense of existential dread every time I put a newly created skeleton specimen away (thoroughly cleaned and decontaminated, but still…).

Thanks!

Cheers,

Tonya

The information contained in this message and/or attachments is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any system and destroy any copies. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender.
_______________________________________________
Nhcoll-l mailing list
Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.proofpoint.com%2Fv2%2Furl%3Fu%3Dhttps-3A__mailman.yale.edu_mailman_listinfo_nhcoll-2Dl%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DWO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ%26r%3DEYdhJ0HrhAMcA2aVQ-I4N7lml00zxsXPbHYeP7843No%26m%3D3buROs6dNWodFs0uhDYmowqhMDJGzHc-ujO5G86ZIvs%26s%3DQuA8UKBe9YPZ9x8QSooxc-MT9OPd7zsbuSR3U3RLNac%26e%3D&data=04%7C01%7Cheath.garner%40ttu.edu%7C7d39d1a581fb4b15050908d955c87961%7C178a51bf8b2049ffb65556245d5c173c%7C0%7C1%7C637635141786726609%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=WvTiMjcL6w63%2BueDr0uHvvqxmQzUjL50ws8EtM2hiQE%3D&reserved=0>

_______________________________________________
NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
society. See http://www.spnhc.org<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.proofpoint.com%2Fv2%2Furl%3Fu%3Dhttp-3A__www.spnhc.org%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DWO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ%26r%3DEYdhJ0HrhAMcA2aVQ-I4N7lml00zxsXPbHYeP7843No%26m%3D3buROs6dNWodFs0uhDYmowqhMDJGzHc-ujO5G86ZIvs%26s%3DGqqUVknB8IGuQvgRWoYAdpdd3Q9aE425JzncdvBmg4I%26e%3D&data=04%7C01%7Cheath.garner%40ttu.edu%7C7d39d1a581fb4b15050908d955c87961%7C178a51bf8b2049ffb65556245d5c173c%7C0%7C1%7C637635141786726609%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=eVfJ20G%2BJG3hzHC83ZmVFSDtERWgJrztOJFIEjhrA1A%3D&reserved=0> for membership information.
Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate.

--

Benjamin M. Hess | EEB Museums Registrar | EEB Museums Safety Representative to the RMC

University of Michigan | LSA Ecology & Evolutionary Biology | Research Museums Center

3600 Varsity Drive, Ann Arbor MI 48108-2228

bmhess at umich.edu<mailto:bmhess at umich.edu> | 734-764-2432

--
Elizabeth Wommack, PhD
Curator and Collections Manager of Vertebrates
University of Wyoming Museum of Vertebrates
Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center
University of Wyoming,
Laramie, WY 82071
ewommack@<mailto:ewommack at berkeley.edu>uwyo.edu<http://uwyo.edu/>
www.uwymv.<http://www.uwymv.edu/>org
UWYMV Collection Use Policy<http://www.uwymv.org/index.php/download_file/view/43/143/>
[Image removed by sender.]
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20210804/f0b01d4f/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: ~WRD0000.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 823 bytes
Desc: ~WRD0000.jpg
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20210804/f0b01d4f/attachment.jpg>