Grain beetle infestation

The following appeared in  the Natural History Collection list
(nhcoll-l [at] ucmp1__berkeley__edu)

    I would like to know if anyone has experienced a problem with
    saw-toothed grain beetles (Oryzaephilus surinamensis) in their
    collection, and if so, how did they get rid of them? We need to
    eliminate grain beetles from a bird collection; we suspect the
    beetles originated from an open, infested sack of corn meal
    which was left out in the collection area. Our questions are:

    1.  Is freezing the most effective method to get rid of the
    grain beetles?

    2.  Are there any chemicals registered for museum use (and safe
        for humans) which are effective against grain beetles?

    3.  Should we consider banning the use of corn meal (and use
        sawdust or ground corncob instead) or do we just need to
        keep it out of collection areas?

    Any other thoughts would be appreciated and thanks for your assistance.

    Cindy Ramotnik
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Biological Resources Division (formerly National Biological Survey)
    Department of Biology
    University of New Mexico
    Albuquerque, NM 87131
    505-766-2811

Jessie Johnson

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 10:48
                 Distributed: Monday, November 18, 1996
                       Message Id: cdl-10-48-021
                                  ***