Article
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Catch of Reesa vespulae in Heritage Environments
Version 1
: Received: 10 May 2024 / Approved: 10 May 2024 / Online: 10 May 2024 (18:23:39 CEST)
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
Brimblecombe, P.; Querner, P. Catch of Reesa vespulae in Heritage Environments. Insects 2024, 15, 405. Brimblecombe, P.; Querner, P. Catch of Reesa vespulae in Heritage Environments. Insects 2024, 15, 405.
Abstract
The skin beetle Reesa vespulae is regularly found beyond North America where it originated. The larvae cause considerable concern in museums as it damages hides or furs in addition to being a special source of damage to collections of dried plants in herbaria or collections of insects and other zoological specimens. It arrived in Europe in the mid-20th century and was associated mostly with stored food products, but over time it has become recognised as a museum pest. Although still uncommon and may only be observed in a small fraction of museums, where the insect is found in large numbers it can cause problems. As a single female can continue to breed because the beetle is parthenogenetic, presence can persist over long periods of time. Although small populations in museums are typically found as the adult, the larval forms are more common where a site is infested by high numbers, perhaps because the larvae and adults must range more widely for food. Although Reesa vespulae can be controlled using pesticides, it is also possible to kill the larvae within infested materials through freezing or anoxia.
Keywords
parthenogenesis; skin beetle; trapping; museum pests; IPM; Austria
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Insect Science
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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