Thank you for your insights, Alan! That makes sense, this was found in a dark basement corner in a room that requires several dehumidifiers, so micro-fungi could surely develop in cracks and such. We do find psocids here and there.
My biggest concern would be that these are some kind of rodent or bird mites (based off of their shape?), although I'm certainly not an expert, and I'm not aware of any vertebrate pests indoors. I'd estimate these mites were roughly the size of a small psocid. The odd beetle larva shown here is very small—the black residue around it is graphite from the point of a pencil, to give an idea of scale. (I found out the hard way that if I don't kill the larvae myself, they can sometimes find their way off the edge of a sticky trap over the course of a week...!) Thanks all, Mike Lind (he/him) Collections Management Coordinator - Walker Art Center 725 Vineland Place Minneapolis, MN 55403 - 612-253-3560 mike.l...@walkerart.org ________________________________ From: pestlist@googlegroups.com <pestlist@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Alan P Van Dyke <apvand...@utexas.edu> Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2022 8:46 AM To: pestlist@googlegroups.com <pestlist@googlegroups.com> Subject: Re: [PestList] Pest identification They are mites, and they probably aren't a threat to your collections. We have mites in our collection storage spaces as well, but ours aren't as big. The ones I find are never bigger than a psocid, but yours appears to be as big as a dermestid larvae? I'm not an expert, but I have theories! I'm pretty sure our mites eat micro-fungi. I find them in the same spaces where I find booklice. I also only find them in traps placed on the floor, for the most part. Our floors are linoleum tile with small gaps between the tiles. I suspect both the mites and the psocids primarily inhabit these spaces, which even in rooms with good climate control will maintain a nice environment for small amounts of fungi to grow. I'm very curious to hear what thoughts others have about these. Alan Alan Van Dyke, Senior Preservation Technician Harry Ransom Center<http://www.hrc.utexas.edu> The University of Texas at Austin <http://www.utexas.edu> P.O. Drawer 7219 Austin, Texas 78713-7219 P: 512-232-4614 [X][https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/mail-sig/AIorK4xJbmz-qJZ-AJsSAfv4-bdiK8JWeOnbpVvFJCgdLj7WehgpUvQoYgfu918RmaC7AkEiyOmUtC8] [X] [X]<https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/> On Wed, Sep 28, 2022 at 3:32 PM Lind, Mike <mike.l...@walkerart.org<mailto:mike.l...@walkerart.org>> wrote: Hello all! I am hoping someone can help me identify the pests in the attached photos. I suspect some kind of mite. They were just barely visible to the naked eye, but I did notice one crawling around, leading me to inspect it under the microscope. I found several on the sticky trap. (Ignore the odd beetle larva on IMG_0130.jpg) Are these mites any concern to a museum collection? Thanks and all the best, Mike Lind (he/him) Collections Management Coordinator - Walker Art Center 725 Vineland Place Minneapolis, MN 55403 - 612-253-3560 mike.l...@walkerart.org<mailto:mike.l...@walkerart.org> -- 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<mailto:pestlist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/CH0PR10MB4938D8B9E3D511E34FA03BB9E4549%40CH0PR10MB4938.namprd10.prod.outlook.com<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/CH0PR10MB4938D8B9E3D511E34FA03BB9E4549%40CH0PR10MB4938.namprd10.prod.outlook.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. -- 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<mailto:pestlist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/CAHhLO3Z0oTqU-No23XtfM%2BGh%2BujUFEx0cdXNkJn81pNXwuvr%2BQ%40mail.gmail.com<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/CAHhLO3Z0oTqU-No23XtfM%2BGh%2BujUFEx0cdXNkJn81pNXwuvr%2BQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. -- 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/CH0PR10MB4938FCE880216C98908C1F69E4579%40CH0PR10MB4938.namprd10.prod.outlook.com.
