Betsy, One of the references that David Pinniger cites in his publication: Pinniger, D. B., 2001. New pests for old: the changing status of museum pests in the UK. In: Kingsley, H. et al (Ed) Integrated Pest Management for collections. Proceedings of 2001 - a pest odyssey, James and James, London, 2001. 9-13. is: Peacock, E.R. 'Adults and Larvae of Hide, Larder and Carpet Beetles and Their Relatives (Coleoptera:Dermestidae) and of Derodontid Beetles (Coleoptera:Derodontidae)' in Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, Vol. 5, Part 3,1993, Royal Entomological Society of London This reference highlights that R. vespulae adults are good fliers and are light attracted. It also reaffirms that they have a wide range of potential food sources. They can eat anything from the materials you listed below, to items commonly found in the food pantries of peoples homes as well as bird-skin, freeze-dried animal mounts and incompletely cleaned vertebrate skulls. It is a little more information anyway. Patrick Kelley Insects Limited, Inc. In a message dated 8/6/2008 8:23:16 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Dear List: Back in May I wrote for advice on freezing a very fragile flag, which we did and it now appears to be pest free and is otherwise stable. I attached images to my original e-mail and David Pinniger replied that they appear to be Reesa vespulae. This was confirmed by Alain VanRyckeghem, BCE, Technical Director of Insects Limited Inc. He said there is limited information on them so I appeal to you for anymore besides the following: “It is a beetle that can take 3 months to three years to complete a life cycle. It feeds mostly on dead insects, but can attack herbarium materials and apparently textiles with certain plant based or insect based red dyes. There is no pheromone for this pest.” Although Alain did suggest that I could try a food bait. I did read David’s paper on Enhanced Pest Capture Rates Using Pheromone-Baited Sticky Traps in Museum Stores (Ackery, Pinniger and Chambers). I guess these beetles are more common in British Museums than American ones, but according to Alain they are becoming more common here. I have since found them in two other cases. Hence my plea. Thanks as always. Betsy Bruemmer Collections Manager Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) 2700 24th Avenue East Seattle, WA 98112 (P) 206-324-1126 x22 (F) 206-324-1346 _www.seattlehistory.org_ (http://www.seattlehistory.org) **************Looking for a car that's sporty, fun and fits in your budget? Read reviews on AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/cars-BMW-128-2008/expert-review?ncid=aolaut00050000000017 )
