Stephanie, Whether or not the wooden objects are at risk depends largely on the species of termites. Subterranean termites require high humidity and so maintain contact with soil or some other source of humidity by building shelter tubes (“mud tubes”) between their feeding sites and the nest in the soil. If you don’t see such tubes in the lab or leading to the wooden objects (e.g., through a hole in the floor below an object), subterranean termites would not be feeding in the lab.
I’m not sure what other termite species you might have in your area, so I’ll have to let others on the list weigh in, or you could contact the KSU entomology department. --Dan Dan Wixted Pesticide Management Education Program (PMEP) Cornell University Ph (607) 255-7525 204 Rice Hall FAX (607) 255-3075 Ithaca, NY 14853 psep.cce.cornell.edu<http://psep.cce.cornell.edu/> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Stephanie Spence Sent: Wednesday, May 1, 2019 12:14 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [pestlist] ID needed Thank you! I now remember the swarming termites in my house when I lived through a Spring season in New Orleans :( >From what I remember, they die quickly. But should I be worried about them >infesting the wooden objects in our lab? As I stated previously, they are >currently not swarming near the objects and our lab is quite large, with the >photo studio being its own little room inside the lab. On Wed, May 1, 2019 at 10:45 AM Dan Wixted <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Stephanie, Termite swarmers are often dark brown to black. Go to http://extension.msstate.edu/content/species-termites-mississippi to see a picture that looks just like your find. --Dan Dan Wixted Pesticide Management Education Program (PMEP) Cornell University Ph (607) 255-7525 204 Rice Hall FAX (607) 255-3075 Ithaca, NY 14853 psep.cce.cornell.edu<http://psep.cce.cornell.edu/> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> On Behalf Of Stephanie Spence Sent: Wednesday, May 1, 2019 11:05 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [pestlist] ID needed Greetings All, Can anyone help me ID these little buggers? I found live bugs all over the floor of our photo studio in the conservation lab yesterday afternoon. They are little black bugs with bodies about 5mm long. Some had wings and some did not. They were only in one area of our lab that actually has no windows, although we are at ground level and have windows in the other half of the lab. We experienced extremely heavy rains all day yesterday, so I suspected this had something to do with their appearance. I came in this morning and they all seem to be dead, although I'm not seeing any dead ones with wings on them so I'm wondering where they went. My coworker noted a similar occurrence happened in the lab a couple of years ago. Should we be concerned that they might be termites? I know termites have wings, but I always thought they were lighter in color. We currently have some wooden objects in the other half of the lab away from where I found the bugs. The scale bar in the photos is in millimeters. Apologies for some that are not as clear because I was photographing the live ones through a polyethylene bag. Thanks for the help, Stephanie -- Stephanie Spence Objects Conservation Fellow Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art p: 610-216-0391 e. [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> -- 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 post to this group, send email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/pestlist. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/CAEVnL8bZDTe9FgyA1MxTuVMsAMcc%2Bgf0aoSGFaAVRHOsWuc9Ag%40mail.gmail.com<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/CAEVnL8bZDTe9FgyA1MxTuVMsAMcc%2Bgf0aoSGFaAVRHOsWuc9Ag%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- 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 post to this group, send email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/pestlist. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/SN6PR04MB38085E05CDA9BC17ADDABBD9AF3B0%40SN6PR04MB3808.namprd04.prod.outlook.com<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/SN6PR04MB38085E05CDA9BC17ADDABBD9AF3B0%40SN6PR04MB3808.namprd04.prod.outlook.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- Stephanie Spence Objects Conservation Fellow Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art p: 610-216-0391 e. 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