[Nhcoll-l] Hide beetles

Mon Aug 2 10:48:53 EDT 2021

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> 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
>
> (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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-- 

*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

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