Hello, We had a large scale trial with Trichogramma evanescens wasps against a Tineola bisselliella infestation in our reserves in 2009-10 which was a costly failure. Not only were the wasps inefficient because of their very limited range of action (they are tiny and do not fly) but we were also left with the cleaning issue afterwards.This was not a small matter because the specialized contractor applied them directly on to our collections of fur and feathers among other things. They are biologists, not conservators, and the necessary cleaning was just not something that they had thought of or had to deal with. Imagine the wasps as a grey dust, very time consuming if not impossible to remove from delicate textiles, fur, feathers etc. The dead wasps (we deployed a total of more than 3 million wasps in two years) do not magically disappear, they are still there on all delicate objects in our African collection. Think twice if this is really what you want to do to your collection. It was suggested to us afterwards that the inefficiency of the wasps against the moths may have been due to a low level presence of insecticides (not enough to keep the moths at bay, though). Like in most other ethnographic and natural history collections, my predecessors in our institution used various chemicals to protect the objects. When I started here 10 years ago I found an empty bottle of DDT solution on a storage shelf. This may or may not have had an effect on the wasps but you may want to keep it in mind if your objects have also been treated at some point in the past. Our experiences have been published in Studies in Conservation 58 (2013). Even though the paper is in French there are images which speak for themselves and I have also got an unpublished english version available on request.
Best regards, Kilian Anheuser Curator for preventive conservation MEG - Musée d'ethnographie de Genève, Switzerland J. Dubuffet, Ontogénèse (détail) ©2020, ProLitteris, Zurich - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Kilian Anheuser Conservation-restauration Conservateur, chargé de la conservation préventive des collections T. +41 22 418 45 92 (direct) kilian.anheu...@ville-ge.ch Musée d'ethnographie de Genève Boulevard Carl-Vogt 67 CH - 1205 Genève http://www.meg-geneve.ch - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Notre environnement est fragile, merci de n'imprimer ce mail qu'en cas de nécessité. De : "Michael Rebman" <mpr...@gmail.com> A : pestlist@googlegroups.com Date : 17.02.2021 22:29 Objet : Re: [PestList] Trichogramma Wasps Envoyé par : pestlist@googlegroups.com Greetings, With both methods, what would leave less biological waste behind (since death moths are food sources for living pests)? And would the Trichogramma wasps die off after the target pest is eliminated, or could they find another food source and create their own infestation? Thank you, Michael R. On Wed, Feb 17, 2021 at 2:04 PM Adam Osgood < aosg...@historicnewengland.org> wrote: I’ve heard of that species of parasitoid being used against webbing cloths moths and look forward to hearing about results. I am skeptical however of the other strategy they mention in using pheromone as an effective means of interrupting reproduction by confusing the males. -- 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 pestlist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/CAKMK8iFT%2BNNXi%2B8UqyYLOv9Mg1UhG_78a8pONSzKLRoAUgAR%2Bg%40mail.gmail.com . -- 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 pestlist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/OFC095FCFF.FBEB5F3C-ONC1258680.002B91FA-C1258680.002FCD4A%40ville-ge.ch.
