Dermestid Beetle Query
Kenelm W Philip
fnkwp at uaf.edu
Tue Aug 7 16:15:15 EDT 2007
Some years ago I found dermestid larvae in my office, and decided
to run an experiment with them, as follows:
I got two small glass vials. In one I put some fragments of saltines,
and two dermestid larvae. In the other I put saltine fragments, two
dermestid larvae, and some PDB. Then I corked both vials and left
them on my work table to see what happened.
In the first vial, the dermestids happily fed--no problems.
In the second vial, they almost immediately stopped feeding. They
lived for about two weeks, and then died.
Conclusion: at least for this species of dermestid, PDB works--
first to stop further feeding, and eventually to kill.
(Note: I posted this on Leps-L at the time--and I got flamed for
cruelty to insects. Any dermestid that takes up residence in the
Alaska Lep. Survey collection has forfeited any rights it had...)
Ken Philip
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