[Nhcoll-l] Mold curiosity

[Tommy McElrath]

We recently had a mold infestation in our types freezer on our wooden vial racks. The fridge is kept at low RH and around 0ºC. We did have an issue where it wasn’t kept exactly at that temperature due to a faulty compressor, but was still kept cold and low RH. 

We didn’t ID the fungus, but did end up having to replace our entire type vial rack collection with all plastic ones, which was a significant expense. Michelle Kohler will be giving a short talk about this at SPNHC this year if anyone is interested. I wonder if it is related. 

Sincerely, 

--
TOMMY MCELRATH
Insect Collection Manager

Illinois Natural History Survey
Prairie Research Institute
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Natural Resources Bldg.
615 E. Peabody Dr. | MC 650
Champaign, IL 61820
217-300-5938 | tcm at illinois.edu <mailto:tcm at illinois.edu>
insect.inhs.illinois.edu <https://insect.inhs.illinois.edu/>
 
 <https://www.facebook.com/INHSInsects/>     <https://www.instagram.com/inhsinsects/>     

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Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act any written communication to or from university employees regarding university business is a public record and may be subject to public disclosure. 

> On May 7, 2025, at 4:11 AM, Nikolaj Scharff <nscharff at snm.ku.dk> wrote:
> 
> More about the finding here:
>  
> https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969724040282
> https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1296207422000322?via%3Dihub
>  
> Best wishes
> Nikolaj
> --------------------------
> Nikolaj Scharff, PhD
> Professor, Curator of Arachnida,
> Archives and Libraries
>  
> <image001.png>
>  
>  
> Natural History Museum Denmark
> University of Copenhagen
>  
> Zoology Section
> Universitetsparken 15
> DK-2100 Copenhagen
>  
> Email: nscharff at snm.ku.dk <mailto:nscharff at snm.ku.dk>
> Phone: +45 42408088
>  
> www.snm.dk <http://www.snm.dk/>
>  
>  
>  
>  
> From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Gali Beiner
> Sent: 7. maj 2025 08:06
> To: NHCOLL-new <Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
> Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Mold curiosity
>  
> Dear All, 
>  
> I noticed this little popular press article on mold that thrives in RH ca. 55%: 
>  
> Denmark’s museum objects at risk from ‘extreme’ new mould, say conservators | Denmark | The Guardian <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/06/denmarks-museum-objects-at-risk-from-extreme-new-mould-say-conservators>
>  
> Has anyone noticed this happening in natural history collections? There are, of course, many types of mold - we dealt with some in our bird collections - but generally lowering the RH (to taxidermy-appropriate levels) appears to help. However, it would be good to know what other professionals see in "their" collections in terms of molds working in lowered RH conditions. 
>  
> Gali 
>  
> -- 
> Gali Beiner (ACR)
> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab
> National Natural History Collections
> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram
> Jerusalem 91904, Israel
> Fax. 972-2-6585785
> gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il <mailto:gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il>
> https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en
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