Subject: [Tweeters] FW: beetles (was - Slater Museum,
Date: Jan 20 14:46:38 2008
From: Stewart Wechsler - ecostewart at quidnunc.net


I'm sure a number of you would be interested in the response about the
beetles used to clean (eat the flesh off of) skeletons at the Burke and the
Slater museum (among other natural history museums). Below is Gary
Shugart's response forwarded with permission:

(and a reminder for those that forget, this is indeed on topic as this list
is not only for birds, but for natural history topics in general that may be
of interest to people on the list.)

-----Original Message-----
From: gwshugart at hotmail.com On Behalf Of Gary Shugart
Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2008 9:17 PM
To: Stewart Wechsler
Subject: RE: beetles


I believe they are Dermestes maculatus commonly called hide beetles
(Dermestidae). Smaller carpet beetle in the same family are common in
houses and museum sand work great for small skeletons like hummingbirds or
shrews. But they are so small (about 2 mm dia) that they can get into
storage cases and damage specimens. The bigger hide beetle colonies die out
if not supplied with fresh material while carpet beetle can live on skin,
scales and feathers for years.




----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
From: ecostewart at quidnunc.net
To: gshugart at ups.edu .
Subject: RE: beetles
Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 06:33:37 -0800


Thanks Gary,

Since I learned about it many years ago, I always thought it was
fascinating that they had bug rooms to clean the skeletons at natural
history museums.

You don't know what species they are, do you?

Thanks,
Stewart

-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Shugart Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2008 6:12 AM
To: ecostewart at quidnunc.net
Subject: beetles


Hi Stewart: Yes we have a beetle colony as does the Burke.

Gary Shugart
Collections Manager
Slater Museum of Natural History
University of Puget Sound
Tacoma, WA 98416
253 879-3356 (museum) 206 463-2169 (home)
gshugart at ups.edu, gwshugart at hotmail.com
http://www.ups.edu/slatermuseum.xml
http://digitalcollections.ups.edu


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