As I understand it, silk is a protein similar to keratin called fibroin. Tom is right that although soiled silk is eaten by beetles and moths, they will eventually die out if you try and rear them on a diet of clean silk. Pest digestion is a very complex and not very well understood science. See for example Cox and Pinniger "Biology, behaviour and sustainable control of Tineola bisselliella".2007 JSPR 43 Foods with high sugar levels are rarely attacked in the food industry and years ago at CSL we determined that booklice and other insects would not live on pure sucrose. I do not know what the starches and sugars are in wood which make it more nutritious, I am sure if you look up some of Hickin's papers, he will tell you. David ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 5:17 PM Subject: Re: [pestlist] Sucrose and wood
Steve - Silk does NOT contain keratin, a nutrient necessary for the development of fabric pests. If silk is attacked by silverfish or carpet beetles, they're after the sizing, not the silk. Tom -----Original Message----- From: Pine, Steve <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Fri, May 21, 2010 10:29 am Subject: RE: [pestlist] Sucrose and wood Thanks Tom. I’ve read that and yet find myself wondering if there is a limiting factor at work similar to what we find with varied carpet beetles preferring wool to silk though both are ready sources of protein. I found myself wondering why otherwise there isn’t a history of wood borers infesting refined sugar? That must be too simplistic but you get what I mean. Steve From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2010 12:38 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [pestlist] Sucrose and wood Steve - Certain wood boring beetles are confined to the sapwood of hardwoods (because of the sugar content) and others to the sapwood of softwoods. The real powderpost beetles (Lyctidae) prefer woods high in sugar content; hence they often infest bamboo and of course hardwoods. The Old and New House Borers prefer the sapwood of softwoods. The nutrient value for the beetles is highest in the sapwood. I am not certain of the type of sugar found in these materials naturally. Someone else will have to answer that question. Does a sugar maple have sucrose or some other form of sugar? What's the sugar in bamboo? Tom Parker -----Original Message----- From: Pine, Steve <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thu, May 20, 2010 12:17 pm Subject: RE: [pestlist] Sucrose and wood I attended a presentation recently that brought up a question that I couldn’t answer so I’m bringing it to the group. In a conservation treatment of waterlogged wood a process of consolidation was utilized where a thinned concentration of sucrose in water would be added to the wood structure as a bulking agent that would also impart more strength to support the weakened wood structure and retain the object’s shape. It has been in use since the mid 80’s when Jim Parrent developed the process. At that time it was his opinion that the added sucrose would not increase the likelihood of infestation. I can visualize the connection between the starches wood borers digest and the chemical relationship to simple sugars but wasn’t clear on how to justify that the borers wouldn’t be attracted to the sucrose. My guess is that there are enzymes and nutritional regulators that preclude the borers from processing sucrose. Can someone explain why or that my assumption is wrong? Thanks for the help. Steve Steven L. Pine Decorative Arts Conservator The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston P.O. Box 6826 Houston, TX 77265 [email protected]
