[Nhcoll-l] Hide beetles

[Anderson, Gretchen]

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> On Behalf Of Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace)
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2021 12:36 AM
To: 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



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