[Nhcoll-l] clothes moths in baleen

[Dirk Neumann]

Hi Chris,

there is this very nice IPM article of Tom Strang in Collection Forum 8/2<https://spnhc.org/resources/8-2/> that includes minimum temperatures and recommendations for freezing cycles, which gives -18°C as lower lethal temperature limit, which is very close to -20°C.

So one option would be going down deeper to -40°C, the other (as Doug recommended) exposing them to anoxia (usually combined with higher temperatures to ensure that all larvae/pupae hatch and are reached during treatment.

Hope this helps
Dirk


Am 25.03.2023 um 01:03 schrieb Chris Grinter:
How long did you leave them at -25C? Duration may be the issue. Cycling through freeze/thaw may actually allow larvae or pupae to better survive, but 14-21 days at -20C should be sufficient to kill all stages of Tineola. Also take into account how long it may take for the interior of the object to reach -20, so your clock shouldn't start until the interior is at temp. I don't know whether or not freezing is good for baleen though.

Chris

Christopher C. Grinter
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On Fri, Mar 24, 2023 at 4:53 PM Chris J. CONROY <ondatra at berkeley.edu<mailto:ondatra at berkeley.edu>> wrote:
Dear list,
    Three years ago we found clothes moths, Tineola bisselliella, living and reproducing in 2 1-ft square pieces of dried baleen from a Megaptera novaeangliae, Humpback whale. We cleaned it up, bagged it, and froze and thawed it a few times at -25C. Then the pandemic. Unfortunately, the moths have returned, presumably from not being killed by several freeze-thaw cycles. Use of tools and compressed air is not going to be sufficient to remove all the moths since they are deep within the plates.
     Does anyone have suggestions for effectively treating these items to destroy the moths, but also not damage the baleen too much?  Has anyone seen moths feeding on baleen in museums before?

Thanks in advance for your ideas,

Chris Conroy
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
UC Berkeley
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Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversitätswandels
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Stiftung des öffentlichen Rechts;
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