Todd, These do appear to be the brown-dotted clothes moth, (AKA: European house moth) Niditinea fuscella. As Mike stated, we have known for some time that this species is attracted to something in the webbing clothes moth, Tineola bisselliella pheromone. Niditinea fuscella will also be attracted to the casemaking clothes moth, Tinea pellionella pheromone. Both the webbing clothes moth and the casemaking clothes moth pheromone blends that we use in our lures share a single common pheromone compound. It is my guess that this compound is also attractive to Niditinea fuscella as well as other members of the family Tineidae, since they are related. We have verified with testing that Niditinea fuscella is attracted to these pheromone lures. We can also attest to the fact that casemaking clothes moths are attracted to our webbing clothes moth pheromone lure since they do share that common pheromone compound between them. If the different moth species ever do get up close and personal, tactile cures and male produced pheromones that inspire female acceptance, prevent them from ever actually mating. In outdoor traps, I have also seen attraction to the clothes moth pheromone from some clear winged moths (family Sesiidae) that mimic the appearance of wasps. As Stephen alluded to, there are many odors in traps and pheromone lures, such as solvents, that a moth species might find attractive. Given all that one might find in a trap, it does become essential to be able to identify which captures put your collections at risk. The common name of brown-dotted clothes moth is somewhat misleading as it is not a major textile pest. It can potentially feed on dirty wool or animal carcasses in attic or basements, but is much more likely to be found in the wood mulch surrounding a house or leaf litter from trees. They are a type of "fungus moth". Your concern when finding this species should be more about excluding it from entering from outside rather than finding an infestation in your collections. The reasons you mainly hear about the webbing clothes moth and the casemaking clothes moth is because these two species are the ones causing the majority of damage to collections and clothing. The 100's of other species of related moths cause very little damage to our belongings. The multiple factors involved when studying insect pheromones and attractants can get extremely complex. It's a beautiful thing how nature works it all out though. I hope that I haven't muddied the waters and caused more confusion with my thoughts here.
Pat ________________________________ From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Michael Quigley <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, August 2, 2019 9:14 AM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [pestlist] Tinea pellionella?... [EXTERNAL] Brown dotted clothes moth Niditinea fuscella caused similar confusion when I was trapping for webbing clothes moths at my previous institution. They are known to be attracted to the WCM pheromone. https://museumpests.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Brown-dotted-clothes-moth.pdf<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fmuseumpests.net%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2017%2f03%2fBrown-dotted-clothes-moth.pdf&c=E,1,JVbVcGot2us1fK-_QbUxujnjI5aqcHZXggbcfwncvjpvxIkBtY16EeEQFJlr2U_DQP4yBb1Sv6W1_14zliLzdfSHkDkVdG8d3G4woamAnYBdMnz6wElY&typo=1> ​They only turned up in the traps during the summertime (in NYC) in areas with windows, and we never found them infesting collections. Mike Quigley Assistant Curator Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum and Arctic Studies Center Bowdoin College 9500 College Station Brunswick, ME 04011 USA [email protected] (207)725-3305 ________________________________ From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Stephan Biebl <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, August 2, 2019 3:12 AM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [pestlist] Tinea pellionella?... Todd, it could happen sometimes, that you catch other moths, like Plodia interpunctella or Nemapogon cloacella with a WCM-pheromone-trap. In one museum we had an infestation with Sitotroga cerealella, also catched with normal Killgerm-WCM-traps. I think this could happen with other compounds of the traps, like solvents of the glue, who are attracts the males of different moths. The most important thing for me is, to look for WCM as the main museum pest on sticky traps and avoid the confusion with similar looking moths. Best from Stephan Mobil vom iPhone gesendet Stephan Biebl Benediktbeuern - Germany www.holzwurmfluesterer.de<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.holzwurmfluesterer.de&data=02%7C01%7Cmquigley%40bowdoin.edu%7Ca25c8e488af24278dbd008d71718d865%7C984e32e5f98a4600aa3227c3f948abe3%7C1%7C0%7C637003267798504891&sdata=AHGawnERK8z568Ep2WWGygv79FRrwIyr24xxzRvapGM%3D&reserved=0> Am 01.08.2019 um 23:02 schrieb Todd Holmberg <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>: Hello Everyone, I was checking traps today, and noticed something unusual that I wanted to run past the group. The sticky trap is baited with a pheromone lure that specifically targets webbing cloths moths (Tineola bisselliella). I noticed 2 moths stuck inside that did not resemble normal classic webbing cloths moths. My first guess was they were Case-bearing cloths moths (Tinea pellionella). I wondered why there would be 2 Case-bearing cloths moths in a trap with a webbing moth pheromone. If it was only one, I would guess it flew in there accidentally, but two makes me wonder if they were attracted somehow. 1) Have any of you ever experienced Webbing moths/Case-bearing attracted to the opposite pheromone? I looked around online for a while trying to find good quality images of Case-bearing moths to compare, and found other types of moths that resembled it pretty closely ("Niditinea fuscella" and "Niditinea orleansella" to name a few). I started digging deeper, and didn't realize how many different moths there are out there in the family "Tineidae". It seems like 99.9% of the time we only hear about the Webbing cloths moth and the Case-bearing cloths moth. Given the nature of how they were in a trap with a "Tineola bisselliella" pheromone, and are not webbing cloths moths, I feel like theoretically they could be anything. 2) Based on this picture (sorry about the quality), how certain can one feel that they are Case-bearing cloths moths vs some of the other lookalikes? 3) Generally speaking, in museums is there a reason that we never hear much about the 100's of other moths in this family other than the "Big Two" Webbing/Case-bearing? 4) Hypothetically if these were not Case-bearing moths but still in the Tineidae family ("Niditinea fuscella" and "Niditinea orleansella" for example), should my concern be the same as far as threat to a museum collection? In the meantime, I will place some Case-bearing pheromones in the area and see what happens. If anyone has any thoughts relating to the questions above, I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts! Thanks! Todd -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Museumpests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/CAMxAh%2Bi-gbtSA_dbo707FJv4AHVBw-v2%2BtE1VEYK0AxDQ3auYw%40mail.gmail.com<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgroups.google.com%2Fd%2Fmsgid%2Fpestlist%2FCAMxAh%252Bi-gbtSA_dbo707FJv4AHVBw-v2%252BtE1VEYK0AxDQ3auYw%2540mail.gmail.com%3Futm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dfooter&data=02%7C01%7Cmquigley%40bowdoin.edu%7Ca25c8e488af24278dbd008d71718d865%7C984e32e5f98a4600aa3227c3f948abe3%7C1%7C0%7C637003267798514878&sdata=ZKzruh0jlNQVvhU%2FyoxVMnJ7cz2LMOCmhmDdxO3GaYs%3D&reserved=0>. <Casemaking #1.jpg> <Casemaking #2.jpg> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Museumpests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/04537EC8-FC77-4C3A-91A4-0534EB482D36%40holzwurmfluesterer.de<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgroups.google.com%2Fd%2Fmsgid%2Fpestlist%2F04537EC8-FC77-4C3A-91A4-0534EB482D36%2540holzwurmfluesterer.de%3Futm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dfooter&data=02%7C01%7Cmquigley%40bowdoin.edu%7Ca25c8e488af24278dbd008d71718d865%7C984e32e5f98a4600aa3227c3f948abe3%7C1%7C0%7C637003267798514878&sdata=FxagLnK1LFTap1u1m3Qh363fmcr%2BH%2BechoYLfEVt2Qs%3D&reserved=0>. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Museumpests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/SN6PR04MB52781D8C16EA06C122D5A618C1D90%40SN6PR04MB5278.namprd04.prod.outlook.com<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fgroups.google.com%2fd%2fmsgid%2fpestlist%2fSN6PR04MB52781D8C16EA06C122D5A618C1D90%2540SN6PR04MB5278.namprd04.prod.outlook.com%3futm_medium%3demail%26utm_source%3dfooter&c=E,1,5YAdWhPHZOv2dvo4A-oR1OGZNMHW1ZfL8SHMga1lrwWewxhKvOGTuoPF3xZqHUjzaynKu3lT7RDsY6m70JZ6btd3hqiB_9646yQxiDpLjw,,&typo=1>. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Museumpests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/CY4PR1401MB1912D2925049F763976328F9F8D90%40CY4PR1401MB1912.namprd14.prod.outlook.com.
